Your doctor might use a blood or urine protein test to determine if you have high levels of protein in your body. If your test results exceed normal ranges, your doctor will use that information to form a diagnosis and treatment regimen for the underlying cause. Only your doctor can tell you if you have a high protein level in your blood or urine, what is causing it, what problems might result and how to remedy the condition.
Total Protein Test
Your doctor might measure your blood protein level to diagnose suspected kidney or liver problems. A total protein test examines the fluid portion of your blood to determine how much albumin and globulin, which are two classes of proteins, your blood contains. Albumin helps keeps fluids within blood vessels, and globulins aid your immune system.
Blood Protein Results
After you take the total protein test, if your results are higher than the normal range -- which is 6.0 to 8.3 g per deciliter -- your doctor will try to identify the cause of the abnormal levels. For example, a high level of protein in your blood might result from chronic inflammation, chronic infection, multiple lyeloma or Waldenstorm's disease, according to MedlinePlus.
Protein in Urine
Normally, your kidneys filter out proteins, such as albumin, so your body can use them for various necessary processes. But if your kidneys are diseased or malfunctioning, they might not filter out protein effectively, resulting in an increase in your urine protein level, or proteinuria. One possible cause of this condition is chronic kidney disease that results from diabetes, high blood pressure or a disease that causes kidney inflammation, according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, or NKUDIC.
Urine Protein Results
Your doctor might use a 24-hour urine protein test, which requires you to collect and refrigerate your urine for a full day. Or your doctor might use a newer type of test that requires only a urine sample, which a laboratory will measure to determine your albumine-to-creatinine ratio. If your urine has more than 30 mg of albumin per gram of creatinine, you might have a kidney problem, according to NKUDIC. Your doctor might perform a second test several weeks later to confirm the results.
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