Normal Range for 24-hour Urine Test – Urine Protein (Nursing)

00:01 Now here's another question for you.

00:03 Is there any other body system at risk when you're in protein is elevated? Okay, cool.

00:09 If I was looking at this and taking a test question and this was in the stem, I'd be thinking, okay urine protein is elevated, that means an abnormal value, is protein supposed to be in urine? No only in small amounts, so that tells me what is going on that I have that protein in my urine? The answer is yes.

00:32 Higher amounts of protein in your urine, proteinuria, Albuminuria, are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

00:42 Awesome.

00:43 So if it's not enough to tell you that your kidneys are at risk, also we know that patients that have protein in their urine have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

00:53 So keep in mind, this is an indicator.

00:56 It's an early screening tool we can use to know that we're going to watch this patient for cardiovascular risk, we're going to monitor their blood pressure closely.

01:05 We're going to make sure we keep it as low as possible in a safe range.

01:10 We're going to encourage them about their diet, their activity, all the things that make for a healthy lifestyle.

01:16 Now, let's look at the normal ranges for a 24-hour test.

01:19 Normal value is less than 150 milligrams in 24 hours.

01:24 Remember what it takes to do a 24-hour test though.

01:27 Abnormal is going to be pretty easy to remember, greater than a 150 in 24 hours.

01:33 This would tell us something is not going right with your kidneys.

01:37 We're going to need to follow that up.

01:39 Now if talking about over a day, a protein in your urine, you've got mild, moderate, or severe disease.

01:46 So mild would be less than half a gram moderate 1/2 right up to 4 grams and then severe is greater than 4.

01:55 Hey, let's talk about these numbers.

01:57 If I had this done and my protein came back at 4, I wouldn't say like I just have moderate disease.

02:05 Now it's all a spectrum.

02:07 We've divided them for you just as a reference, but when I'm getting up from mild, anytime I'm moving towards moderate.

02:14 I want to try and slow that down.

02:16 If I'm moderate and I'm moving towards severe, I want to do everything I can to help my patient slow down that progression right? I want them to avoid that last category as long as possible.

02:29 So while these numbers are a reference, remember, these are humans.

02:34 These are bodies that were talking about and we just want to help them stay as healthy as possible.