[Prevalence of microalbuminuria and association with cardiovascular risk factors in a Spanish Mediterranean area].
BACKGROUND: The primary objective of this study was to know the prevalence of microalbuminuria (mAlb)in a general population from the Spanish Mediterranean area along with its association with other cardiovascular risk factors (CRF). PATIENTS AND METHOD: We studied 99 consecutive patients who were classified in mAlb+ or mAlb-,depending on whether their mAlb was higher or lower than 30 mg/day,respectively. RESULTS: Thirty-seven patients(9.3% of the general population) were mAlb positive. Twenty-one percent of them were males with hypertension. The presence of mAlb was positively correlated with age, systolic blood pressure,body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, pulse pressure, HDL cholesterol,triglycerides, glycemia and serum creatinine. The level of mAlb was 12.9 (11.2) (mg/day) in non-hypertensive non diabetic individuals,while it was 14.1 (16.5) in diabetic non-hypertensive subjects, 22.5 (53,5) in hypertensive non-diabetic subjects and 27.7 (49.1)in diabetic individuals who were also hypertensive. Hypertension correlationed with the presence of mAlb with an odds ratio of 2.4 (CI 95%: 1.1-5.2)and the addition of a male gender increased the odds ratio to 3.8 (CI 95%: 1.8-8.1). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of mAlb in the Spanish Mediterranean area appears to be low (9.3%),although it is especially high in hypertensive males with or without diabetes.