Serum albumin and blood pressure: a population-based, cross-sectional study.

Background And Purpose: Information about the association between serum albumin and blood pressure is limited. The purpose of the present paper was to investigate this relationship in different age groups in males and females.

Methods: In the cross-sectional Norwegian Oslo Health Study, the concentration of serum albumin and blood pressure was determined in 5071 men and women 30-75 years of age. The albumin-blood pressure relationship was studied using multiple regression.

Results: In general, men had higher albumin values than women, and young subjects had higher albumin values than old. Within all age groups and in both sexes, systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased with increasing albumin concentration within the physiological range. An increase in the albumin concentration over the physiological range from approximately 40 to 50 g/l was associated with an increase in the systolic blood pressure between 5 and 11 mmHg in males, depending on age, and between 6 and 17 mmHg in females. Corresponding increases in diastolic blood pressure were between 3 and 7 mmHg in males, and 4 to 9 mmHg in females. Per one SD increment in the albumin concentration the blood pressure increase was 1-3 mmHg.

Conclusion: Within the different age groups, irrespective of sex and age, a positive association was found between serum albumin and blood pressure. Since albumin, in contrast to high blood pressure, is considered to be cardioprotective, the two variables probably affect cardiovascular risk by unrelated mechanisms.