Urinary albumin excretion in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a large cross-sectional study. Issue 10 (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pieringer, Herwig; Danninger, Kathrin; Puchner, Rudolf; Hoppe, Uta; Pohanka, Erich
• Is Part Of: Clinical rheumatology. Volume 35:Issue 10(2016)
• Page Start: 2421
• Page End: 2425
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: Cardiovascular -- NHANES -- Rheumatoid arthritis -- Urinary albumin excretion; Rheumatology -- Periodicals; 616.723
• DOI: 10.1007/s10067-016-3334-6
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0770-3198

Abstract

Abstract While there is a lot of evidence published on the association of cardiovascular (CV) disease and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), little is known about urinary albumin excretion (UAE)—a marker of CV risk—in this particular high-risk population. Therefore, we investigated UAE in a large cross-sectional study. We used data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), including the years 2007–2012. Primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) >30 mg/g. A total of 14, 648 study participants (representing a population size of 174, 663, 008) with available ACR were included in the study (14, 179 without RA and 469 with RA). In the RA group, the proportion of patients with an ACR >30 mg/g was 10.46 % (95 % CI 7.47–14.45 %) and in the non-RA group this proportion was 13.39 % (95 % CI 12.65–14.16 %;p = 0.09). There was a strong association between RA and DM (OR 5.84; 95 % CI 4.48–7.62). In the RA group, significantly more patients had a former CV event (OR 3.01; 95 % CI 2.28–3.97). Adjustments for DM, smoking status, former CV event, age, systolic blood pressure, and gender did not substantially alter the association between RA and ACR >30 mg/g (OR 0.82; 95 % CI 0.51–1.33). We did not find evidence for a difference in UAE in patients with or without RA, despite the fact that RA was associated with DM and, in addition, RA patients more often had a previous CV event. These findings may support the assumption that despite an increased CV risk, UAE does not play a major role in RA patients.