Preventing Kidney Disease:

Kidney Disease (nephropathy) is the single most preventable complication associated with diabetes. If persistent microalbuminuria is identified, kidney (renal) disease can be postponed or possibly reversed with diet management, exercise, insulin, antidiabetic medications, and treatment with antihypertensive drugs such as ACE inhibitors. Originally, specimens for "microalbumin" were 24-hour collections or, if that was not possible, a timed overnight collection. This has become increasingly difficult to do because most patients are seen on an outpatient basis. Consequently, screening diabetes patients for microalbuminuria is not widely performed. ("The Role of the Clinical Laboratory In the New Approach to Diabetes," David Rezendes, MS (CLS) and James Faix, MD, Clinical Laboratory News, vol. 23, no. 7, July 1997.)

Kidney Screen At Home the easy and convenient way to do microalbumin testing:

Kidney Screen At Home allows patients to collect a urine sample at home and mail it to our CLIA licensed clinical laboratory in a dried state for microalbumin testing. This kit uses a proprietary urine collection paddle called the UriSite. The patient merely collects the first morning urine in a cup, dips the paddle, and lets it dry overnight. The next morning, the patient encloses the paddle in the zip-lock bag included in the kit, and mails it to us in the return envelope. When the specimen is received, our licensed clinical laboratory personnel will do an analysis of the microalbumin/creatinine ratio and mail the lab results to the patient and authorizing physician. Results should arrive 7-10 business days after the sample has been mailed.

Along with the ease and convenience of our test kits, FlexSite Diagnostics also provides the consistency and accuracy of a single laboratory that can serve patients in any location in the U.S. If patients are traveling or move to a new location, results from various laboratories can't necessarily be compared because of the use of different assay methods as well as human variances. With FlexSite's at-home sample collection kits, patients can obtain their own sample from any location, mail it to our licensed clinical laboratory and receive the results.

Alarming Kidney Disease Statistics:

The following disease statistics demonstrate the need for major improvements in detecting kidney dysfunction early enough to prevent kidney disease from occurring:

• Diabetes is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the U.S. and Europe, accounting for 40% of new cases
• Diabetic nephropathy accounts for about one-third of all cases of ESRD
• According to the ADA, 20%-30% (some experts say as high as 40%) of individuals with diabetes develop nephropathy (3.2-6.4 million people).
• Treatment for ESRD in the U.S. costs more than $2 billion annually for diabetes patients alone.₁
• 6% to 40% of people with diabetes have microalbuminuria. 80% of those people will develop diabetic nephropathy.₂
• 36% of diabetes patients who develop nephropathy enter end-stage renal dialysis.₂
• The 5-year life expectancy in patients with diabetes-related ESRD is less than 20%.₁
• In the U.S. in 1995 almost 100,000 people with diabetes underwent dialysis or kidney transplantation.

(Clinical Practice Recommendations. Diabetes Care. 2000;23(suppl 1):S69-S72.)

Facts About Microalbumin Testing

• The American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Kidney Foundation (AKF) recommend annual microalbumin testing.
• Studies have shown that only 10% - 20% of patients (with diabetes in the U.S.) are tested for microalbuminuria.
• By the time symptoms occur, the kidneys may already have lost up to 80% of their function.
• Microalbuminuria has also been shown to be associated with increased cardiovascular disease.₂
• Microalbuminuria has also been shown to be predictive of retinopathy and neuropathy in NIDDM.₂
• There's a potential savings of $7,900 to $16,500 per year of life saved if ACE inhibitors are used for treatment of microalbuminuria.

(Roger Zoorob, Michael Hagen,American Family Physician http://www.aafp.org/afp/ , Vol 56, no.8)

1. Jennifer Marks, ADA presentation.

2. Kory Ward, Analytical Chemistry, "Renal Function," Vol.67,No.12,June 15, 1995, 385R