Hello,

The issue in some patients with very low body mass is that the creatinine excretion may in fact be so low that it falsely raises the ratio. What is your height and weight?

If there is any doubt about the accuracy of this test, you could always do a 24 hr urine collection. Though in my experience, patients who do not have extremely low body mass (and therefore muscle mass) are accurately diagnosed by the spot urine ACR.

Dr. Jordan Weinstein

My body mass is high. I am 5'9" and 250lbs. This is my second test with low creatinine in my urine in the last 3 months.

Do you do the test fasting or have you consumed water before? A dilute urine will cause the urine creatinine to appear low - but so will the albumin. This is why the ratio is done, to cancel out the degree of urine dilution or concentration. If you did a fasting urine sample first thing in the morning, this would probably not be the case.

That would probably do it. I generally don't have to fast for my diabetic blood test but I did have a fair amount of water before the test and it is quite conceivable that the urine was diluted. With my ratio elevated but eGFR still normal, is there a way to improve the ACR and my longer term prognosis? I assume losing the weight would be key. I am about 60lbs overweight. Slightly hypertensive but relatively well controlled. Still a bit of work to do on my diabetes.

Hi there,

In general, preservation of kidney function in diabetes requires excellent sugar control (A1C less than 6.5-7) and blood pressure (<130/80), use of ACE inhibitors OR angiotensin receptor blockers, use of SGLT2 inhibitors, avoidance of smoking, minimization of proteinuria, weight loss and control of cholesterol.

Dr. Jordan Weinstein