Routine urine tests are part of prenatal visits to screen for infection or other conditions. Testing for the presence of protein in the urine (proteinuria) is necessary to determine if your kidney function is normal. Although proteins are normally absent in the urine, having a small amount of it during pregnancy is common. It can indicate kidney dysfunction, but it can also be related to infection, stress, or other conditions that need to be evaluated further.
Causes of Protein in Urine During Pregnancy
1. Preeclampsia. Women with this condition have high blood pressure during pregnancy, accompanied by water retention and protein in their urine. It can lead to complications including babies with low birth weight. However, if diagnosed and treated early, affected women can deliver normal babies. Treatment includes consuming a healthy, low salt diet and engaging in regular exercsie as recommended.
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2. Kidney Infection or Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). UTI can cause protein to appear in the urine. If you feel the urge to urinate more frequently and suffer some discomfort during urination, you may have a UTI. If not treated promptly, this condition can cause kidney infection, which manifests as fever and chills, nausea, vomiting, and back pains. UTI may not adversely affect your baby but a kidney infection can lead to premature labor and low birth weight babies.
3. Other Causes. Factors that can cause transient increases in urinary protein include emotional stress, fever, exposure to extreme temperatures, dehydration, medications, and strenuous exercise. Some medical conditions, however, can cause proteinuria that needs further investigation, such as heart dise...
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...mple. This test confirms the presence of infection and suggests which antibiotics may be used to treat infection effectively.
Screening for UTI is important even in women who do not experience any symptoms. The risk of developing UTI late in pregnancy is relatively small if your urine test is found negative for UTI during your first prenatal consultation.
Summary
Protein in urine during pregnancy may or may not indicate a serious condition. A routine urine test must be done during prenatal visits to screen for protein and other substances associated with conditions that can affect mother and the baby.
Works Cited
http://voices.yahoo.com/what-does-protein-urine-during-pregnancy-mean-8385193.html?cat=5 http://www.babycenter.ca/x542263/what-does-it-mean-if-i-have-protein-in-my-urine http://www.babycenter.com/0_urine-tests-during-pregnancy_1699.bc?showAll=true
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection of the urinary tract. The urinary tract is the body's drainage system for removing wastes and extra water. Urinary tract infections can have different names, depending on what part of the urinary tract is infected. The infection can include the bladder, kidneys, ureters, or the urethra. If the infection is in the bladder it is called “cystitis” or a bladder infection. If the infection is in the kidneys is it called “pyelonephritis” or a kidney infection? If the infection is in the urethra it is called “urethritis”. Most urinary tract infections are bladder infections. Infections in the ureters are very rare. Everyone is at risk of getting a UTI allowing bacteria to grow in the urine that stays
If left untreated, a urinary tract infection (UTI) can result in serious outcomes (Mayo Clinic 2015). These serious consequences might include recurrence of infections, permanent kidney impairment from a kidney infection due to untreated UTIs (Mayo Clinic 2015). Recurrent infections in the urethra can cause urethral narrowing in men (Mayo Clinic 2015). In addition, sepsis, which is a life-threatening condition of an infection, might occur if the infection travels up the urinary tract to the kidneys (Mayo Clinic 2015).
A UTI is an infection of the body’s drainage system. These infections are mainly caused by microbes i.e. fungi, viruses, and bacteria. The most common microbe that causes UTI are bacteria. If a bacterium affects the urethra, the infection is known as urethritis. Cystitis and pyelonephritis are infections of the bladder and kidney respectively. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) tells us that every minute, an average person’s kidneys filter about 3 ounces of blood, removing wastes and extra water. The wastes and extra water make up the 1 to 2 quarts of urine an adult produces each day. Referring back to our patient, he shows numerous symptoms of a UTI. He feels a strong urge to urinate hence giving the sensation that his bladder is full but only excretes a small amount of urine. He also declares some discomfort while urinating. This discomfort could be a burning sensation and it is the primary symptom of urethritis. Although there’s no presence of urethral discharges, patient A exhibits the signs of a UTI. Moreover, his medical history states he has a mild fever which is a symptom associated especially with
Performance Characteristics of Postpartum Screening Tests for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Women with a History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review, 18(7), Retrieved from http://lib-proxy.calumet.purdue.edu:2461/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=15&sid=af725124-1c4c-4d18-9e92-35d14ad23d66%40sessionmgr4&vid=15&sid=af Diabetes Information Hub -. (2011). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Retrieved from http://diabetesinformationhub.com/GestationalDiabetes.php. Mayo Clinic. (2010).
Handbook of Laboratory and Diagnostic Tests with Nursing Implications (3rd edition). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy. Although it usually goes away after the baby is born, it does bring health risks for both the mother and baby. When you’re pregnant, pregnancy hormones make it harder for insulin to move glucose from your blood into the cells. If your body can’t produce enough insulin to overcome the effects of insulin resistance, you’ll develop gestational diabetes. (IHC, 2013)
Some other causes of the infection include different sexual partners, and holding back the urge to urinate. Others such as renal stones and tumors are very seldom.
... urine of a pregnant woman, with a pregnancy of 3 to 5 weeks. The concentration of hCG obtained was 3.5ng/mL (17.4mIU/mL), which was in agreement with the pregnancy status.
A Urine test analyzes a sample of the patient’s urine may reveal abnormalities that point to chronic kidney failure and help identify the cause of chronic kidney disease. One the abnormalities are the presence of albumin in the urine. Albumin is a protein found in the blood. A healthy kidney does not let albumin pass into the urine. A damaged kidney lets some albumin pass into the urine, the fewer albumins in your urine, the better. Albumin can be detected by a dipstick test. The dipstick test involves using chemically treated paper to detect albumin in the urine sample. If the presence of albumin is found then the treating paper will change color. I perform the dip test and the treated paper changed
If damage to the kidney continues, eventually the nephrons well die and total kidney failure will result. The acute form develops suddenly. The condition may develop after an infection in the throat or skin and symptoms commonly include facial puffiness, urine retention and bloody urine. Shortness of breath may also occur as a build up of fluid occurs around the lungs. Ordinarily acute glomerulonephritis will cease on its own, though dialysis is sometimes required for those afflicted who have a large amount of extra fluid within the body. Two further conditions are associated with this disease and those are nephritic syndrome and nephrotic syndrome. Nephrotic syndrome is characterised by the presence of proteinuria within the urine and this release of protein from the body can adversely affect osmotic processes in the body, leading towards irregular dehydration of the cells and pooling of fluids elsewhere in the body in the form of oedema, mainly noticeable within the face and
Urine tests are a quick test that makes sure no alcohol or illegal drugs have been used. The test works by having an individual urinate into a specimen collection cup and then the cup is given to a doctor for analysis. The doctor then will take the specimen to a testing facility or room. The doctors and scientists will then examine the specimen and do a series of tests on it to determine whether or not the person has been using drugs. The process sounds gross, but it is a reliable way to test people for drug use.
Prenatal testing is a test offered to pregnant women in their first trimester. These tests are often performed but for most of the findings there is no cure like for Down syndrome (Latendresse; Denenis, 2015). Most tests are performed in order to find a cure. However, prenatal genetic testing is mostly used for informative reasons. The test can only detect the high risk of a problem. Most of the time it is not used for diagnosis. Most prenatal tests are sensitivity test leading to false-positive results. Some test can be misleading. Some prenatal test is linked to the risk of pregnancy loss (Latendresse, Denenis, 2015). The risk with a test that is not 100% positive will always raise the question, is it really worth it in the end.
Nephrotic syndrome is usually diagnosed with dipstick urine test or a 24-hour urine collection. If your test shows that you have nephrotic syndrome, additional tests may be needed to determine its cause. These may include blood, urine, imaging, or kidney biopsy tests.
Usually, urine tests are not used to make a specific diagnosis of bladder cancer because hematuria can be a sign of several other conditions that are not cancer, such as an infection or kidney stones. One type of urine test that can indicate the presence of cancer is cytology, a test in which the urine is studied under a microscope to look for cancer cells A bladder biopsy makes a definitive diagnosis. The imaging tests may be used to find out whether the cancer has spread. (American Cancer Society,
The urine is a transparent and yellowish liquid produced by the kidney to get rid of waste materials from the bloodstream. The urine also can be used to determine the present of some diseases. Normal human urine color is usually light yellow to dark yellow; depend on the concentration of the urochrome which is the urinary pigment (1). The urine eliminates toxic substances such as alcohol, drugs, and the ones produce by the metabolism. It also controls the acid and base levels as well as the blood pressure through water regulation. The pH is important in urine because it indicates acidity or alkalinity. The normal pH of urine is 6.0 in which foods and diseases can affect. Normal urine contains water approximately (90%-95%), which 5% dissolved organic and inorganic wastes such as urea and sodium chloride (2). The specific gravity of normal urine can be from 1.010 to 1.025 which can vary based on the fluid intake (2). If abnormal constituents of urine are detected in normal urine, then the presence of theses const...