According to the findings of a newly conducted research study, low serum albumin levels are independently connected with an increased risk of ESRD. This connection has nothing to do with chronic kidney disease risk factors and they include baseline glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR).
The ESRD was 61 and 69 percent more likely to develop among people with serum albumin levels in the first and second quartiles respectively – in a study that was done on community-dwelling adults – as compared to those with fourth quartile (4.4g/dL or higher) in a model that has been properly adjusted. This was reported online in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation by Carl P. Walther, MD, of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and his colleagues. A 16% increased risk of ESRD was associated with every 0.33g/dL.
The researchers adjusted for body mass index, race, sex, age, baseline eGFR, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, antihypertensive drug use and various lab measures and comorbidities and urine ACR.
Dr. Walther’s team reported that as far as they knew, it was the first study to demonstrate an association between serum albumin concentrations and ESRD while accounting for urine ACR in a community-dwelling adult population.
There was a more significant connection between the serum albumin level and the incident ESRD in the subgroup that had people with a baseline eGFR of 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 or higher. The first and second quartiles in this subgroup were linked with a 7-fold enhanced risk of ESRD respectively when compared with the 4th quartile in a completely adapted model. A 61% increased risk of ESRD is associated with every 0.33 g/dL decrease in serum albumin.
When compared with those with an eGFR lower than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, the first and second quartiles of the serum albumin were associated with 11 and 39 percent heightened risk of ESRD respectively, in contrast with the fourth quartile and each a 14 percent increased risk of ESRD was associated with a 0.33 g/dL decrease in serum albumin.
19,633 individuals that participated in REGARDS (Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) – which was a United States based population-based cohort study of whites and blacks older than 45 year of age. The team ascertained the eGFR with the aid of the chronic kidney disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) combined creatinine-cystin C equation. They used the US Renal Data System to identify the incident ESRD.
They identified certain challenges as limitations to the study and they included exclusion of individuals of races not black or white.
Traditional therapies try to correct this by adding more protein, however, research has shown more protein leads to further loss of kidney function. There’s a safe and natural way to improve this. Visit our All-Natural Kidney Restoration & Function Program to find out more.
