OBJECTIVETo determine the value of the urinary microalbumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) and the relationship between UACR and traditional cardiovascular risk factors among elderly community subjects.

METHODSA representative population in Shanghai rural district aged more than 65 years who participated in the heart health survey of the key projects in the national science and technology pillar program in the eleventh five-year plan period of China were sampled via a clustered complex sampling method. A midstream collection from the first morning void collected was used to measure the urinary microalbumin, the urinary creatinine and the UACR. Baseline information including traditional cardiovascular risk factors were obtained by standard questionaire to analyze the distribution status of UACR in the population with or without the risk factors.

RESULTS(1) There were 1718 subjects (721 males) of (73.3 ± 5.5) years included in this study. (2) The prevalence of with at least one cardiovascular risk factor was 78.00% in this cohort, the top there risk factors were dyslipidemia (61.06%), hypertension (44.59%) and diabetes (13.80%). (3) The median (the lower quartile-the upper quartile) of the UACR of the population without cardiovascular diseases and risk factors was 13.81 (6.03 - 26.51) µg/mg. The level of UACR was significantly higher in females than that in males [17.12 (7.28 - 33.28) µg/mg vs. 5.49 (2.92 - 9.76) µg/mg, P < 0.01]. (4) The level of UACR in population with hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia was 16.27 (6.65 - 42.00) µg/mg, 26.27 (10.92 - 76.65) µg/mg and 16.39 (6.98 - 41.03) µg/mg respectively, all exceeding that of the healthy group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). (5) The levels of UACR increased in proportion to the increase of cardiovascular risk factor numbers, the UACR of the population with 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 cardiovascular risk factors were 13.81 (6.03 - 26.51) µg/mg, 15.76 (6.79 - 36.44) µg/mg, 13.82 (5.68 - 34.43) µg/mg, 16.47 (6.07 - 50.56) µg/mg and 18.63 (11.26 - 83.09) µg/mg, respectively. The population with 4 cluster of cardiovascular risk factors posed the higher level of UACR than that of population with 0 cardiovascular risk factors (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe three most common risk factors of cardiovascular diseases among the elderly community subjects aged more than 65 years are dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes, all of which are related to the elevation of UACR.