Diabetes mellitus and microalbuminuria: Factors affecting collection of urine samples for microalbuminuria

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defective insulin secretion, action or both. Diabetic nephropathy is a multistage disorder and takes several years to progress from the stage of incipient nephropathy to end stage renal disease. Microalbuminuria is an early indicator of diabetic nephropathy. Urine examination for microalbumin is routinely done to monitor the progression of nephropathy. As many factors can interfere with the estimation of microalbumin, it is very important that high standards are maintained while estimating the MA levels.