The potential of spot and overnight urine in the evaluating of proteinuria and electrolyte

Abstract

Urine testing has been a primary standard clinical method for assessing proteinuria and electrolyte intake. The traditional 24 ​h urine collection method, despite its high accuracy, has some limitations in practice. To overcome its drawbacks, two alternatives are widely recommended: spot urine collection and overnight urine collection. However, questions about the ability of the two alternatives in replacing the 24 ​h urine collection are still on debate, which requires further investigation. This article makes a systematic review of the two alternatives methods for assessing proteinuria and electrolyte, which may provide a useful insight for using them in actual clinical evaluation and diagnosis.