Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Microalbuminuria is known as a predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with and without diabetes, as well as the general population. The objective was to determine whether there was an association between the urinary albumin excretion and CVD risk by estimating the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) in nondiabetic middle-aged adults.

Methods: This study was based on data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which was conducted by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2011-2012. From the 16 576 participants, data for 5165 adults who were 40–79 years of age were included in the analysis. Based on the urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (UACR), the subjects were categorized into normal (≤9.9 mg/g), high normal (10.0–29.9 mg/g), and microalbuminuria (30.0–299.9 mg/g) groups.

Results: The mean FRS increased with increases in the UACR: 11.53±0.09 in the normal, 12.50±0.28 in the high normal, and 13.18±0.32 in the microalbuminuria in men; 10.32±0.14 in the normal, 13.10±0.32 in the high normal, and 14.00±0.48 in the microalbuminuria in women. After fully adjusting for potential confounding factors, including lifestyle, sociodemographic factors, known CVD risk factors, and eGFR, high normal levels and microalbuminuria were significantly associated with ≥10% 10-year risk of CVD (odds ratio (OR) 1.777 (95% confidence interval (CI), 1.216–2.597) and OR 2.232 (1.197–4.160), respectively) compared with the normal in men. High normal levels and microalbuminuria were also significantly associated with a ≥10% 10-year risk of CVD (OR 2.041 (1.173–3.550) and OR 3.115 (1.538-6.308), respectively) after adjusting for the above covariates in women.

Conclusions: Urinary albumin excretion reflects CVD risk in nondiabetic middle-aged adults and high normal levels and microalbuminuria were independently associated with a higher risk of CVD.