Relation between serum albumin and carotid atherosclerosis: The NHLBI Family Heart Study

Background and Purpose - Lower concentrations of albumin have been positively related to coronary disease. The aim of this project was to assess the association between serum albumin and carotid atherosclerosis. Methods - B-mode ultrasound was used to assess carotid plaques and intima-media thickness (IMT) among white subjects from 592 randomly ascertained families in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study. Logistic regression was used to estimate prevalence odds ratios of any carotid plaques. Results - Of the 2072 persons studied, 47% were men. Higher serum albumin was associated with younger age, lower body mass index, and lower prevalence of hypertension and coronary disease. Lower serum albumin levels were not associated with an increased odds of carotid plaques. From the lowest to the highest quartile of albumin, multivariate adjusted odds ratios for the prevalence of any carotid plaques were 1.05 (95% CI, 0.59 to 1.86), 1.34 (95% CI, 0.78 to 2.32), 1.03 (95% CI, 0.52 to 1.86), and 1.0 (reference), respectively, in men and 0.71 (95% CI, 0.40 to 1.26), 0.76 (95% CI, 0.42 to 1.36), 0.79 (95% CI, 0.46 to 1.36), and 1.0, respectively, in women. Similarly, in a linear regression model adjusted for demographic, lifestyle, and metabolic factors, serum albumin was not associated with carotid IMT. When the first 3 were compared with the highest quartile of serum albumin, regression coefficients for internal carotid IMT were 0.06458 (SE, 0.06408), 0.07205 (SE, 0.05469), and 0.000773 (SE, 0.05687), respectively, for men and -0.01795 (SE, 0.05085), -0.08501 (SE, 0.04800), and 0.009528 (SE, 0.04622), respectively, for women. Conclusions - Our data suggest that lower serum albumin levels are not associated with an increased odds of prevalent carotid atherosclerosis in either men or women.