Small Animal Rotating Intern Friendship hospital for Animals Washington, DC, United States
Abstract:
Background: Glomerular disease results in proteinuria, predominantly albuminuria. Hypoalbuminemic renal disease is associated with increased mortality. Correlation between the magnitude of proteinuria, assessed by urine protein:creatinine ratio (UPC), and the development of hypoalbuminemia in dogs is unknown.
Objective: To determine the frequency of hypoalbuminemia in dogs with renal proteinuria and to evaluate for correlation with UPC. Animals: 181 dogs with suspected renal proteinuria.
Methods: Retrospective study of dogs that had concurrent urinalysis and serum chemistry analyzed between August 2021 to August 2023. Dogs with tubular, pre-renal, and post-renal proteinuria, liver disease, or non-renal causes of hypoalbuminemia were excluded. Spearman correlation was performed between UPC and serum albumin concentration. Frequency of hypoalbuminemia (serum albumin
Results: 44 of 181 dogs (24.3%) were hypoalbuminemic. Correlation between UPC and serum albumin did not reach significance (p=0.09), but was significantly correlated (p=0.0037, r= -0.2519) when evaluating dogs with UPC >1. In dogs with UPC >0.5, there was a significant difference (p=0.01) between the frequency of hypoalbuminemia among quartiles, Q1 31%, Q2 11%, Q3 17%, and Q4 38%. Dogs with proteinuria of UPC >1, there was a nonsignificant trend (p=0.26) in the frequency of hypoalbuminemia between quartiles; Q1 12.5%, Q2 21%, Q3 24%, Q4 33%.Conclusions and clinical importance: UPC was weakly correlated with serum albumin in dogs with UPC >1, but not when those with UPC 0.5-1 were included. The observed trend of increased frequency of hypoalbuminemia with worsening proteinuria warrants further study including albuminuria measurement.
