The presence of protein in the urine can indicate a person injured in the kidney or not .
Patients who have high levels of protein in the urine or often called albuminuria , had a five-fold risk of suffering from acute kidney injury , a number of researchers reported in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology .
Finding protein in the urine through a simple and inexpensive test may be used as a way to see kidney damage and repair inspection methods currently implemented , called estimated glomerular filtration rate , said a team from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore .
Acute kidney injury , which often happens when people are in the hospital , was recorded at 1.6 percent of all hospital patients and occurs when kidneys suddenly lose the ability to filter waste products from the blood .
Acute kidney injury can be cured if the patient is healthy enough , but often lead to chronic kidney disease and kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant .
" Potential to be cured , but not always . And the reason why we are so concerned with acute kidney injury is that it can lead to bad things in the future , increasing the risk of death , and risk of chronic kidney disease , " said Dr. Morgan Grams , which worked on the study .
Grams and colleagues examined 11,200 patients , by observing their medical records . They were tested for albuminuria as part of their treatment .
The researchers found that even low levels of albuminuria may indicate that patients experiencing acute kidney injury .
Kidney injuries may occur when patients receive medication through an IV or a material to make their internal organs can be seen during the examination by computer tomography or CAT scans or procedures on coronary arteries .
" You have to undergo a CAT scan , but you can try to minimize the amount of materials supplied or provide better materials , " Gram said as quoted by Reuters .
According to the American Society of Nephrology , nearly 30 million Americans , or 10 percent of the country's population , suffer from chronic kidney disease . More than 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with kidney failure each year , with diabetes as the primary cause .
The doctors have a clear way to measure risk factors for chronic kidney disease . They test the serum levels of creatinine in the blood . They adjust the measurement for demographic risk factors such as age , gender and race .
"This is to measure the overall population of people who are at risk for acute kidney injury , " Grams said .
It is estimated that there is a genetic connection . Scientists at Decode Genetics in Iceland found a link between a single -letter variations in the genetic code with serum concentrations of creatinine, a protein that indicates chronic kidney disease .
According to those in the PLoS Genetics journal of the Public Library of Science , the discovery could lead to better ways to prevent kidney disease .
