Urinary screening programmes in school children allow the early detection of kidney disease

     Early clues to kidney diseases in children are unexplained fevers, and in boys its difficulty in passing urine or passing too much or too little urine, underclothes continuously wet with urine, progressive swelling around the eyes on waking up and not gaining height,? says Jyoti Sharma, pediatric Nephrologist with the Bharati Hospital. The exact prevalence of kidney diseases in Indian children is not known. However, the Indian Society of Pediatric Nephrology, in collaboration with the Indian Society of Nephrology, has initiated a chronic kidney disease (CKD) registry in an effort to collect and record information regarding children with CKD. The objectives are to acquire and collate information about CKD in Indian children and advocacy for improving their management.Urinary screening programmes in school children allow the early detection of kidney disease.

     A micro albumin -to-creatinine ratio urine test involves measuring the amount of a protein called albumin in the urine. The amount of urine albumin is compared with the quantity of a waste product in the urine called cretonne. The body normally filters out creatinine in the urine at a steady rate, so comparing the ratio of urine albumin with creatinine in the same urine specimen helps determine if the body is excreting albumin at an increased rate. If this is occurring it may be the result of kidney disease.

     In most healthy people, the kidneys prevent albumin and other proteins from entering the urine. However, if kidneys are damaged and start to allow proteins to pass from the blood into the urine, the first type of protein to appear in the urine is albumin.This is because albumin molecules are smaller than most other protein molecules.

Test Items

• Leukocytes (LEU)
• Urobilinogen (URO),
• Bilirubin (BIL),
• Specific gravity (SG),
• Glucose (GLU),
• PH
• Protein (PRO),
• Occult blood (BLD),
• Nitrate (NIT),
• Ketone (KET),
• Vitamin C (VC)

The consistent presence of small amounts of albumin in the urine is called microalbuminuria and is associated with early-stage kidney disease. Once there are larger amounts of albumin in the urine it is called microalbuminuria and it could indicate more severe kidney disease. This test will do only 5RS for each student. Minimum 500 students need.