Spurious hyperbilirubinemia in uremic patients on propranolol therapy

Chronic, low-grade, unexplained increases of total serum bilirubin concentration were observed in 16 of 132 (12%) chronic dialysis patients. Cessation of antihypertensive medication in four patients resulted in disappearance of hyperbilirubinemia. Propranolol was the only antihypertensive drug common to all 16 patients. Daily dosage varied among the patients, but the mean dose was 308 mg (+/- 51 SEM). Serial determinations of sera from individual patients given different doses and from the group as a whole demonstrated a linear relationship between propranolol dose and apparent total serum bilirubin concentration with continuous-flow analysis. When serum specimens from uremic patients receiving propranolol were treated with diazotized fulfanilic acid and examined spectrophotometrically, an absorbance peak distinct from but overlapping that of bilirubin was consistently demonstrated. The material producing the peak disappeared when the drug was stopped, did not dialyze, and was not reproduced by the in vitro addition of propranolol to uremic serum. We postulate that a metabolite(s) of propranolol is retained in uremic serum and interferes with the bilirubin determination.