A: Someone with consistently high protein in the urine may have kidney disease, but other causes could include a buildup of abnormal proteins in the organs called amyloidosis, diabetes, hypertension, Hodgkin's disease or sickle cell anemia, states Mayo Clinic. High protein may also result from leukemia, lupus, heart disease or pregnancy.
The circumstances of inpatient admission always govern the selection of principal diagnosis. The principal diagnosis is defined in the Uniform Hospital Discharge Data Set (UHDDS) as âthat condition established after study to be chiefly responsible for occasioning the admission of the patient to the hospital for care.â.
In these types of cases, when the proximate diagnosis is the main reason for home care, it is reported as the primary diagnosis and the underlying condition is a secondary diagnosis. Occasionally the proximate diagnosis is taken from Chapter 16 symptom codes, as in the abnormality of gait example above.