PROTEINURIA AS A BIOMARKER - RISK OF SUBSEQUENT MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY

A standard laboratory renal assessment, concentration of albumin in ur ine, has been suggested as a biomarker of renal damage, but little dat a exist on its ability to predict health outcomes in the general popul ation. This 16-year follow-up study of a general population evaluated the utility of this assessment to predict subsequent serious health co nsequences. Four percent of men and 2% of women aged 45-74 years exhib ited proteinuria in a cross-sectional screening of an ambulatory popul ation, with the percentage increasing with age. The finding of protein uria was predictive of serious health consequences, with adjusted rela tive risks for subsequent mortality of 1.71 for men and 1.84 for women and adjusted relative risks for renal disease incidence of 3.46 in me n and 1.39 in women. Controlling for those factors which might be asso ciated with proteinuria and even excluding early cases did not alter t hese findings. These data support that casual proteinuria should be co nsidered as a marker for risk of poor health outcomes.