Microalbuminuria: early prognostic factor of preeclampsia?

Many markers have been proposed to identify the pregnant woman at risk to develop preeclampsia, without finding at the moment the gold standard. The main purpose of the present study was to know if the detection of microalbuminuria in early stages of pregnancy is a good predictor of preeclampsia. One hundred and two women (102) were studied. All of them had risk factors for preeclampsia with a pregnancy between 16 and 18 weeks, an evaluation of microalbuminuria was done through a clean-catch dipstick of the first miction of the day, excluding patients with urinary tract infections and nephropaty, > 20 mg/L was considered a positive value. Diagnosis data of preeclampsia were recopilated from the clinical chart of each patient after the pregnancy was resolved. Of the 102 patients, 53 had a negative microalbuminuria, 6 (11%) developed preeclampsia and 47 (88%) did not. Forty nine women had positive microalbuminuria and 23 (46.9%) of them developed preeclampsia and 26 (53%) did not. The sensitivity was 79%, specificity 63%, the positive predictive value was 46% and the negative predictive value was 88%. The detection of microalbuminuria in early stages of pregnancy could be a good predictor of preeclampsia, moreover it is a simple and feasible procedure to do by the obstetrician.