Proteinuiria May Cut Life Expectancy

Proteinuria, also known as albuminuria or urine albumin, is a condition in which urine contains an abnormal amount of protein.  People with diabetes, hypertension, or certain family backgrounds are at risk for proteinuria.  In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, albumin in the urine is one of the first signs of deteriorating kidney function. As kidney function declines, the amount of albumin in the urine increases.  Tanvir Chowdhury, from the University of Calgary (Canada), and colleagues analyzed data collected on  812,386 patients, ages 30 years and older, who did not have end-stage renal disease, and who had at least one measurement for proteinuria between May 2002 and December 2006. They were followed through March 2009. Proteinuria was assessed at baseline using urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) or urine dipstick. The condition was mild in 9.55% of men and 7.48% of women and heavy in 2.03% of men and 1.22% of women. The team found that within each 5-year age group going up to 85 and for both sexes, life expectancy was shorter for individuals with higher levels of proteinuria. Men consistently had a shorter life expectancy compared with women. Among 40-year-old men, the researchers found that life expectancy was 31.8 years for those without proteinuria, 23.2 years for those with mild proteinuria, and 16.6 years for those with heavy proteinuria. The values for 40-year-old women were 35.7, 25.2, and 18.2 years across increasing levels of proteinuria. The study authors noted that the life expectancy for the middle-age population without proteinuria in their study was 7 or 8 years shorter than that seen in the general population at the same time.