Assessment of a Veterinary Dipstick for Determination of Urine Protein/Creatinine Ratio in Canines

The urine protein/creatinine ratio (UPC) is a widely used screening test of glomerular barrier function. It usually requires sending urine samples to a distant laboratory, which is costly and time consuming. A point-of-care urine dipstick that could accurately measure UPC would increase test utility and utilization. The objective of this study was to determine if there was good correlation and agreement between UPC as measured by a dipstick and a laboratory analyzer. Thirty-one canines undergoing UPC measurement as part of a diagnostic workup were included in the study. A total of 2 mL of urine was collected via cystocentesis. Urine was applied to the dipstick then presented to two blinded reviewers to analyze. The remaining urine was submitted to a clinical pathology laboratory for analysis. UPC data from the dipsticks and the analyzer was converted into an ordinal scale. Correlation and agreement between the individual reviews and the analyzer was calculated. Agreement between reviewers was substantial; however, correlation and agreement between the individual reviews and the analyzer was low. On the basis of this information, use of this veterinary urinary dipstick to determine UPC cannot be recommended at this time.