Serum albumin predicts hyperuricemia in patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy

The aim of the study was to examine the cross-sectional association between serum albumin and hyperuricemia (HU).

HU was defined as uric acid ≥ 420 umol/L for the male population and ≥ 357 umol/Lfor the female population. We reviewed the files of 216 consecutive patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy treated at our hospital between 2010 and 2019. The correlation of serum albumin with hyperuricemia and the association between serum uric acid levels and the clinical of Idiopathic membranous nephropathy were assessed by statistical analysis. A multivariable logistic analysis model was applied to test the association after adjusting for a number of potential confounding factors.

Triglyceride and serum albumin were higher in the group with hyperuricemia than in the group without hyperuricemia (p = 0.020, p < 0.001, respectively). As serum albumin rose to 1 g/L, the probability for hyperuricemia increased to 17% (adjusted II OR = 1.17, 95% CI (1.02, 1.35), p = 0.0294). A unit increase in serum albumin was associated with an increase of 6.64 g/L in uric acid (adjusted II β = 6.64, p = 0.0135). Using tertile 1 (T1) for reference, the tertile 3 (T3) group was positively associated with both hyperuricemia (adjusted II OR = 44.21, 95% CI (12.76, 75.67), p = 0.0064) and uric acid (adjusted II β = 98.64, p = 0.0116). The interaction test showed significant interactions between serum albumin and the body mass index (BMI) when hyperuricemia or uric acid were used to determine the outcomes. The participants with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² had a higher OR between serum albumin and hyperuricemia and had a higher β between serum albumin and uric acid than those with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² (for hyperuricemia: OR = 1.01 vs. 1.18, p for interaction = 0.0056; for uric acid: β = 0.96 vs. 6.23, p for interaction = 0.0154). The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.7615 in the participants with a BMI ≥ 25 kg/m². The sensitivity and specificity of this point were 47.37% and 95.83%, respectively.

Our study showed that serum albumin was positively associated with hyperuricemia and uric acid, especially in obese subjects.