Albuminuria is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the Japanese population: the Takahata study

Background Albuminuria is a known risk factor for cardiovascular events and premature deaths. However, the association between urinary albumin excretion and mortality is unknown in the Japanese population. To clarify this, we conducted a community-based longitudinal study. Methods This study included 3,445 registered Japanese subjects (mean age 62.6 years), with a 7-year follow-up. Albuminuria was defined as a urine albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) ≥30 mg/g in the morning spot urine. Results Subjects with albuminuria ( n = 514, 14.9 %) were older and showed a higher prevalence of hypertension, obesity, and diabetes and lower values of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) than those without albuminuria ( n = 2931, 85.1 %). During the follow-up, 138 subjects died. A Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that all-cause mortality significantly increased along with the increase in urine albumin excretion (log-rank test, P