Albumin %
What it measures, and what changes the number.
Albumin % is the share of total serum protein made up by albumin, the main protein produced by the liver. It comes from serum protein electrophoresis, a test that separates blood proteins into bands by how they move in an electric field and reports each band as a proportion of the whole.
It is read alongside the other electrophoresis fractions (alpha-1, alpha-2, beta and gamma globulins) and with total protein, which is used to convert each percentage into an absolute amount. Albumin measured directly by a chemistry method is often on the same report.
The result depends on the electrophoresis method and on how the lab draws the boundaries between bands, so it may differ slightly from a directly measured albumin. Plasma instead of serum adds a fibrinogen band that can shift the fractions. Labs may print it as Albúmina%.
Often read alongside: Albumin, Total protein, Alpha-1 globulin %, Alpha-2 globulin %, Gamma globulin %