Albumin

Serum albumin test is used in measuring the amount of albumin in your blood. This test is used in evaluating liver and kidney functions. When there is an impairment in kidney functioning, albumin leaks into urine thus showing low levels of albumin in your blood.

What are proteins?

Proteins circulate throughout the body to maintain fluid balance. Albumin is a protein made by the liver which helps in keeping fluid from leaking out of blood vessels. It is also useful in carrying medicines, enzymes, hormones, and vitamins throughout the body. Albumin is the most abundant protein in the blood.

Why this test is performed?

This test may be recommended to you if you experience symptoms like yellow skin and eyes, tiredness, unexplained weight loss, swollen legs, swollen stomach or swelling around your eyes, fever, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, pain below ribs including stomach area, tenderness, dark urine, pale stools, shortness of breath, itchy skin, frequent urination at night, erectile dysfunction. This test may also be recommended to check certain medical conditions like kidney disease, chronic pancreatitis, Wilson disease a condition in which there is too much copper in the body if you are on dialysis or to check your nutritional status.

Precautions:

Some medicines may interfere with the albumin test results like insulin, steroids like prednisolone, cortisone, anabolic steroids like testosterone, androgens, etc and cause high levels of albumin. Dehydration also sometimes causes higher levels of albumin. In the case of pregnancy, the albumin levels in the blood may be low. Medicines like birth control pills also cause low levels of albumin in the blood. Hence inform your doctor or technician about all your current medications and medical conditions prior to the test.

If your albumin test results are lower than the normal range it may indicate malnutrition. It may also indicate liver disease or an inflammatory disease like Crohn's disease, Celiac disease where small intestine lining gets damaged due to the eating of gluten, Whipple disease a condition which prevents the small intestine from allowing nutrients to pass into the body. Albumin levels may also be low if there is a weight loss after surgery.

Higher levels of albumin are very rarely observed in conditions like burns, acute infections, stress from a heart attack or surgery.

If you get abnormal test results to consult your doctor immediately. Your doctor may recommend other tests depending on your results.