Albumin in your urine Urine Microalbumin (MAU)
A trace of blood protein that has slipped through into your urine.
Also printed asMicroalbumin (Urine) · Microalbumin · Urine Albumin · MAU · Microalbuminuria · Urinary Albumin
What it measures
The concentration of albumin - a protein that should stay in the blood - leaking into your urine.
The earliest sign that the kidney filter is under pressure, years before creatinine or eGFR move.
Why it matters for how long you stay well
Protein leaking into urine is the earliest visible sign of pressure on the kidney filters, and it shows up years before the filtering rate itself falls, which is exactly when acting still works.
How it shows up in daily life
Fever, a hard workout, a urine infection or a period can all raise a single sample, so one result is never the answer.
High and low readings
When it reads high
The filter is letting protein through; the ratio against urine creatinine is the number that counts.
When it reads low
Low is good.
What moves it
Daily life
- blood pressure
- blood sugar
- hard exercise in the day before the sample
- fever or a urine infection
Medicines known to shift it
- blood-pressure medicines (lower it)
- GLP-1 medicines (lower it)
Listed so a result can be read in context. It is not advice to start, stop or change any medicine; that decision belongs with your physician.
Read it with
Markers that move this one, or that this one moves. One number read alone can mislead.
- Urine albumin, correctedKnown mechanism
As this rises, Urine albumin is calculated from it
The raw albumin result is divided by your urine creatinine. That correction stops a very dilute or very concentrated sample from telling you the wrong thing.
Common questions
What does Urine Microalbumin measure?
The concentration of albumin - a protein that should stay in the blood - leaking into your urine. The earliest sign that the kidney filter is under pressure, years before creatinine or eGFR move.
What does a high Albumin in your urine result usually mean?
The filter is letting protein through; the ratio against urine creatinine is the number that counts.
What does a low Albumin in your urine result usually mean?
Low is good.
What is the usual reference range for Albumin in your urine?
A broad adult reference band is below 2 mg/dL. Labs differ, so read your result against the band printed on your own report.
Educational only, not a diagnosis. A single number means little without your history and the rest of your panel, so discuss your own results with your physician.
Typical adult reference band
- Adults
- below 2 mg/dL
Labs differ. The band printed on your own report is the one that applies to your result.
Reported in mg/dL, mg/L
Ageing relevance
4/5
A strong independent predictor of illness and mortality in large cohorts.
Worth knowing
Healthy kidney filters hold this protein back, so finding it in urine means some has slipped through.
Have a report with this marker on it? Read it in context.
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