Serum albumin and mortality in patients with HIV and end-stage renal failure on peritoneal dialysis

Association between the geriatric nutritional risk index and clinical outcomes among peritoneal dialysis patients: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

To identify the relationship between the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) and clinical outcomes in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD).

METHODS

The PubMed, EBASE, Web of Science and CNKI databases were searched for available studies up to December 25, 2023. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality, and the secondary outcomes included the incidence of PD dropout, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs), technique failure and peritonitis. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were combined to evaluate the predictive value of the GNRI for the occurrence of the above endpoints.

RESULTS

Ten cohort studies with 3897 patients were included. The pooled results demonstrated that a lower GNRI was significantly associated with a greater incidence of all-cause mortality (HR = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.55-0.91; P = .007). In addition, a decreased GNRI predicted the occurrence of dropout from PD (HR = 0.971, 95% CI: 0.945-0.998, P = .034) and MACCE (HR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.92-0.98, P = .001). However, no significant associations of the GNRI with technique failure (P = .167) or peritonitis (P = .96) were observed.

CONCLUSION

A low GNRI is significantly associated with poor clinical outcomes and might serve as a novel and valuable prognostic indicator among PD patients.

Serum Albumin as Prognostic Marker for Older Adults in Hospital and Community Settings

Serum albumin, known for its multifaceted role in health, is hypothesized to serve as a prognostic marker for older adults, both in hospital and community settings. Nine studies were included in the review, revealing consistent associations between low serum albumin levels and increased mortality risk in hospitalized older individuals. In community settings, low serum albumin levels were linked to higher mortality rates compared to those with normal levels. The synthesis of evidence underscores the potential of serum albumin as a prognostic marker for older adults, offering valuable insights for risk stratification and targeted interventions. While robust evidence supports its utility in hospital settings, further research is warranted in community settings to address current limitations and enhance the applicability of serum albumin as a prognostic tool. This review merges existing knowledge of the prognostic significance of serum albumin in older adults across hospital and community settings. The findings emphasize the importance of serum albumin as a potential prognostic marker, urging continued research efforts to refine its application in diverse healthcare contexts and improve outcomes for the aging population.

Albumin determined by bromocresol green leads to erroneous results in routine evaluation of patients with chronic kidney disease

OBJECTIVES

Measurement of plasma albumin is pivotal for clinical decision-making in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Routinely used methods as bromocresol green (BCG) and bromocresol purple (BCP) can suffer from aselectivity, but the impact of aselectivity on the accuracy of plasma albumin results of CKD-patients is still unknown. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of BCG-, BCP- and JCTLM-endorsed immunological methods in patients with various stages of CKD.

METHODS

We evaluated the performance of commonly used albumin methods in patients with CKD stages G1 through G5, the latter divided in two groups based on whether they received hemodialysis treatment. In total, 163 patient plasma samples were measured at 14 laboratories, on six different BCG and BCP-platforms, and four different immunological platforms. The results were compared with an ERM-DA-470k-corrected nephelometric assay. The implications on outcome is evaluated by the proportion of patient results <38 g/L for the diagnosis of protein energy wasting.

RESULTS

Albumin results determined with BCP- and immunological methods showed the best agreement with the target value (92.7 and 86.2 %, respectively vs. 66.7 % for BCG, namely due to overestimation). The relative agreement of each method with the target value was platform-dependent, with larger variability in agreement between platforms noted for BCG and immunological methods (3.2-4.6 and 2.6-5.3 %) as opposed to BCP (0.7-1.5 %). The stage of CKD had similar effects on the variability in agreement for the three method-groups (0.6-1.8 % vs. 0.7-1.5 % vs. 0.4-1.6 %). The differences between methods cause discrepancies in clinical decision-making, as structurally fewer patients were diagnosed with protein energy wasting upon using BCG-based albumin results.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that BCP is fit for the intended use to measure plasma albumin levels in CKD patients from all stages, including patients on hemodialysis. In contrast, most BCG-based platforms falsely overestimate the plasma albumin concentration.

Association between subclinical left ventricular ejection fraction and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with peritoneal dialysis

Background

Reduced left ventricular ejection function (LVEF) was associated with increased mortality in patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD) in Asia and the United States of America. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) were correlated with LVEF in PD. However, little information is available regarding the relationship between monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and the use of NLR, PLR, and MLR in predicting left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in patients with PD.

Methods

All 181 patients with PD were enrolled between 2014 and 2021 from the Nephrology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of the University of South China. Demographic features, clinical characteristics, laboratory values, and echocardiographic parameters were collected.

Results

The mean age of patients with PD was 47.4 ± 12.6, and 90 (49.7%) of the patients were men. LVEF showed a negative correlation with PLR (r = −0.200, p = 0.007) and MLR (r = −0.146, p = 0.049). The levels of NLR, PLR, and MLR were elevated in patients with PD with LVSD compared with those without (all p &lt; 0.05). PLR (OR 4.331, 95% CI: 1.223, 15.342) and albumin (OR 13.346, 95% CI: 3.928, 45.346) were significantly associated with LVSD patients with PD in the multivariate logistic analysis. For differentiating patients with PD with LVSD, optimal cutoffs of NLR, PLR, MLR, and albumin were 4.5 (sensitivity: 76.7%, specificity: 55.0%, and overall accuracy: 58%), 202.6 (sensitivity: 66.7%, specificity: 69.5%, and overall accuracy: 69%), 0.483 (sensitivity: 53.3%, specificity: 72.8%, and overall accuracy: 30%), and 34.6 (sensitivity: 72.2%), respectively.

Conclusions

Our results revealed that PLR was better than NLR, MLR, and albumin in predicting LVSD in PD.

Prognostic Significance of the Albumin to Fibrinogen Ratio in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background

Albumin to fibrinogen ratio (AFR) is a demonstrated predictor of mortality in various diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of AFR to predict mortality in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 212 incident PD patients from January 2010 to December 2017 and followed them until December 2019. We used receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis to determine the optimal cut-off point for AFR at baseline to predict overall and cardiovascular mortality during the follow-up period. Kaplan-Meier curve and Cox regression analysis were applied to evaluate the association between AFR and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.

Results

The optimal threshold for AFR to predict mortality was 8.48. A low AFR was strongly correlated with worse all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in PD patients. Multivariate analysis revealed that elevated AFR was an independent marker predicting reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality (HR 2.41, 95% CI 1.11–5.22, P = 0.026; and HR 2.18, 95% CI 1.21–3.95, P = 0.010, respectively).

Conclusions

Patients with a high AFR had reduced all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. AFR is a potential prognostic biomarker in PD patients.

Cytomegalovirus viremia is associated with poor outcomes in AIDS patients with disseminated nontuberculous mycobacterial disease

Both cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia and disseminated nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) disease are common opportunistic infections in AIDS patients. Whether concurrent CMV viremia is associated with mortality in patients with AIDS and disseminated NTM disease is unknown. Subjects were patients with AIDS and disseminated NTM disease seen at a single center from January 2015 to April 2021. Data were retrospectively collected. Differences in demographics and clinical characteristics and hospitalization survival rates were compared between patients with disseminated NTM and with CMV viremia or not. Subjects were 113 AIDS patients with disseminated NTM who were seen at this Hospital from January 2015 to April 2021. Twenty-six of the patients had CMV viremia and 87 did not. The median age was 36 years (interquartile range [IQR] 29-42) and 108 patients were male (96%). The median CD4 count was 7 cells/µL (IQR 3-17). The median plasma CMV viral load was 9,245 IU/mL (IQR 3147-45725). The serum albumin of patients with CMV viremia was significantly lower than that of patients without CMV viremia (P = 0.03). Compared to patients without CMV viremia (81.6%), patients with CMV viremia had a significantly poorer prognosis (P = 0.01). Cox regression analysis indicated that the risk of a poor prognosis in patients with CMV viremia was 4.7 times higher than that in patients without CMV viremia (P = 0.003), and patients with CD8 more than 250/μL had a better prognosis (P = 0.02). CMV viremia increases the risk of a poor prognosis in patients with AIDS and a disseminated NTM infection. A routine CMV DNA test should be performed on patients with AIDS and disseminated NTM disease in order to reduce the risk of death.

rs1445776009 variants in the human ALB gene: Association with serum albumin and clinical outcomes in HIV-infected Kenyan injection substance users

OBJECTIVE

The coburden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and injection substance use is high especially in coastal urban and peri-urban regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Although antiretroviral treatment (ART) has improved disease prognosis in HIV-1-infected patients, injection substance use is detrimental to these individuals. HIV-1 and injection substances use have been associated with a marked reduction in serum albumin levels. This is attributable to at least, in part, injection substance use, ARVs, HIV-1 infection, as well as host genetics. The albumin gene expression is modulated through several mechanisms including intronic consensus elements. Therefore, this study examined ALB gene rs1445776009 intronic polymorphism and its association with disease outcomes.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted at Bomu Hospital, Mombasa County, Kenya. A total of 155 injection substance users (ISUs) were recruited comprising 93 ART experienced and 62 ART naive. Variant rs1445776009 was amplified through polymerase chain reaction and genotyped through restriction fragment length polymorphism.

RESULTS

Carriers of the mutant and GG had significantly lower body mass index (P = 0.033), serum albumin (P = 0.002), CD4+ T cells (P = 0.031), and higher HIV-1 RNA copies (P = 0.018) relative to wild type, CC and heterozygous, CG; in ART-experienced ISUs. In addition, mutant GG carriers were at higher odds of presenting with hypoalbuminemia (OR, 1.933; 95% CI, 1.524-4.664; P = 0.033), underweight (OR, 2.412; 95% CI, 1.124-5.782; P = 0.026), immunosuppression (OR, 3.036; 95% CI, 1.957-9.633; P = 0.021), and high-density HIV viremia (OR, 1.836; 95% CI, 1.134-6.298; P = 0.016).

CONCLUSION

This study's findings appear to suggest that loci rs1445776009 of the ALB gene could be modulating serum albumin levels and disease outcomes in HIV-1 ART-experienced ISUs.