Association of Proteinuria with Metabolic Syndrome in Korean Adults

Oh, Myung Ju; Lee, Mi Ji; Lee, Kee Hyuck; Park, Min Seon; Ko, Jeong Ah

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Proteinuria is a predictor of chronic kidney disease and a common risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous studies have reported that a urinary albumin-creatinine ratio and a glomerular filtration rate was related to the metabolic syndrome. However, there have been few studies on association between the metabolic syndrome and proteinuria by the urine dip-stick test. We examined the association between the metabolic syndrome and the proteinuria by the urine dip-stick test.
METHODS
The subject of this study included 20,075 adults aged more than 18 years old who visited the Health Promotion Center of the Seoul National University Hospital from April 2001 to March 2007. The metabolic syndrome was defined according to the criteria of the American Heart Association and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and proteinuria was defined as a dipstick test above the '1+' level. The crude and multivariated-adjusted odds ratios of proteinuria were calculated by using logistic regression models with each component of the metabolic syndrome.
RESULTS
Proteinuria was noticed in 5.7% of the subjects with metabolic syndrome, and 2.7% without metabolic syndrome. The multivariate-adjusted odds ratios of proteinuria in participants with elevated blood pressure level, elevated plasma glucose level and high triglyceride level were 2.23 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.95 to 2.55), 2.33 (95% CI, 2.06 to 2.62), 1.64 (95% CI, 1.45 to 1.84). The multivariate-adjusted odds ratio of proteinuria in participants with the metabolic syndrome compared with participants without the metabolic syndrome was 2.30 (95% CI, 1.91 to 2.76), respectively.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that proteinuria by the urine dip-stick test might be an important predictor in the metabolic syndrome.