Objective: To study the variation of protein excretion in short-interval day-and-night collections in hospitalized preeclamptic patients on continuous bed rest.
Methods: We prospectively studied 50 patients admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of preeclampsia. Urine volumes in 2-, 4-, 12-, and 24-h durations were recorded. Protein concentrations in different volumes of urine were measured. Paired t-test was used to compare the volumes, concentrations, and the total amounts of protein in these samples of different durations.
Results: There was no significant difference in the volume of urine and the concentration of proteinuria in the day when compared to night (12-h samples) (p > 0.05). The total amount of protein excreted was comparable for the two durations of samples. For shorter-duration collections (4- and 2-h), the difference in proteinuria between day and night samples remained blunted.
Conclusion: This study concludes that there is blunting of variation in protein excretion as observed in short-interval urine collections at different times of the day in hypertensive pregnant patients on continuous bed rest.