Microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria are known indicators for kidney damages. But aside from this, what are other factors in the urine that serve as good indicators?
Specific urinary indicators in clinical practice are albuminuria or total proteinuira as you suggest. There are experimental biomarkers being evaluated including NGAL, KIM-1, FGF-23, Asymmetric dimethylarginine ADMA, there are many others but so far not entered clinical practice. Creatinine is a serum marker and is very dependant on the subjects muscle mass and hydration satus.
Inulin or inulin clearance is a good estimator for GFR for research purposes. Clinically, Creatinine level are preferred because it’s an easier and cheaper test, but as stated above, diet, hydration and body composition can alter serum levels not necessarily due to kidney damage.
5 years since this was asked and more research (see a select few articles below) seem to be using urine pO2 as a solid metric of kidney function and health. Worth keeping an eye on.
Article Continuous bladder urinary oxygen tension as a new tool to m...
Article Intrarenal and urinary oxygenation during norepinephrine res...
Article Effects of changes in inspired oxygen fraction on urinary ox...