Background: Urinary albumin excretion is known to be independently associated with progression of renal and cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to identify predictors for progression in albuminuria in the general population.
Methods: Data were used of the first 4 screening rounds of a community-based prospective cohort study (PREVEND). Included were 5,825 subjects that at baseline had no known renal disease or macroalbuminuria. Subjects were defined as having progressive albuminuria when they belonged to the quintile of subjects with highest absolute increase in urinary albumin excretion per year and a urinary albumin excretion during the last screening in which they participated of ≥150 mg/24 h. Change in urinary albumin excretion per year was calculated as last available urinary albumin excretion minus baseline UAE divided by follow-up time.
Results: During 9.3 years follow-up 132 subjects had progressive albuminuria. These subjects were significantly older, more often of male gender and had a worse cardiovascular risk profile. In a multivariable model, testing baseline values, significant predictors of progressive albuminuria were male gender (OR 2.23; p<0.001), age (OR 1.03; p<0.001), BMI (OR 1.06; p = 0.02) and baseline albuminuria (OR 5.71; p<0.001). Based on these findings a risk score was made to estimate a subject's risk for progressive albuminuria.
Conclusion: A high baseline albuminuria is by far the most important predictor of progressive albuminuria. Thus, screening for baseline albuminuria will be more important than screening for cardiovascular risk factors in order to identify subjects at risk for progressive albuminuria.