Screening for microalbuminuria by use of a rapid, low-cost colorimetric assay.

We evaluated the pyrogallol red-molybdate(IV) method for quantification of urinary protein as a screening procedure for microalbuminuria by determining the assay's sensitivity and specificity at different concentrations of urinary albumin as measured by a comparison laser-nephelometric immunoassay. The pyrogallol red-molybdate(IV) method has sensitivity and specificity similar to that for other semiquantitative assays, but it is less expensive and sample throughput can be high if microtiter plate techniques are used.