Paediatric normative data for urine NGAL/creatinine ratio.

Aim: The objective of this study was to establish age-dependent urine NGAL (neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin)/creatinine ratio values in healthy children and adolescents.

Methods: The study was performed using a random sample of 172 healthy children and adolescents (M-88, F-84), aged median 9.75 (0.2-17.9) years. Urine NGAL concentration was measured using a commercially available ELISA kit (R&D Systems, USA).

Results: Median concentrations of urine NGAL/creatinine in particular age groups were analysed using anova. The differences between the youngest group of children under the age of 6 years and the rest of examined population were statistically significant. There were no differences in urine NGAL/creatinine between other age groups. Statistically significant negative correlation between urine NGAL/creatinine and age of subjects was found (r = -0.29, p < 0.05).

Conclusion: In the study, normative values of urine NGAL/creatinine for subjects aged 0.2-17.9 years have been established. These data may help clinicians and researchers to improve the interpretation of urine NGAL/creatinine ratio in children and adolescents. However, further studies using numerous data should be conducted to add reference values for urine NGAL partitioned by age and gender.