Joint research, conducted by Sapienza University of Rome in collaboration with Irccs Neuromed of Pozzilli, Lum Giuseppe Degennaro University and Mediterranea Cardiocentro of Naples, has highlighted a significant association between hypoalbuminemia (low levels of albumin in the blood) and an increase in risk of mortality from vascular diseases and cancer in elderly individuals. The research, conducted on the basis of data collected by the Moli-sani epidemiological study (since March 2005 on 25,000 residents in Molise, to understand the environmental and genetic factors underlying cardiovascular diseases and tumors) and published in the scientific journal eClinical Medicine-Lancet – reports a note – analyzed a large group of people (around 18,000 subjects, of which 3,299 aged 65 or over), demonstrating that albumin levels lower than 35 g/L are linked to a greater risk of death in elderly people. This relationship was observed even after excluding factors such as kidney or liver disease and acute inflammatory states, which can influence albumin levels.
“In addition to providing us with the opportunity to investigate the relationship between albumin in the blood and health with further research – says Licia Iacoviello, director of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention of Irccs Neuromed and full professor of Hygiene at Lum University – this study may have implications direct on clinical practice and prevention. The measurement of albumin in the blood is in fact a simple and inexpensive test. It should therefore be considered a first level analysis, which would allow greater clinical-diagnostic attention to be paid to potentially elderly individuals. at risk. Our study also provides a reference value (35 g/L) which can guide the doctor in interpreting the albumin measurement”.
The “possibility of obtaining predictive indications on diseases with high incidence and high risk of death, such as cardiovascular diseases or tumors, through a simple and widely available test, even at low cost, represents an important achievement for modern medicine – comments the rector of the Sapienza Antonella Polimeni – This study, which confirms and consolidates the excellence of the scientific activities of Italian universities and research institutions in the medical field, also has an important social value attributable to the possible implications in the field of prevention”.
“Our analysis – claims Francesco Violi, professor emeritus of the Sapienza University of Rome and creator of the study – originates from the fact that albumin in the blood is a protein that carries out antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticoagulant activities. Its decrease, therefore, accentuates the systemic inflammatory state, facilitating the hyperactivity of cells predisposed to carcinogenesis or thrombosis. It is important, in this context, to underline that cancer and heart attack share a common basis precisely in the presence of a chronic inflammatory state, and that patients at risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as diabetics and the obese, are also at risk of cancer”.
An interesting fact – reports the note – from the research is that hypoalbuminemia is correlated to a lower socioeconomic level. This raises an important social issue, since for economic reasons, elderly people often opt for a less healthy diet, choosing foods with less noble proteins.
“The results of our study – underlines Augusto Di Castelnuovo, epidemiologist of the Mediterranea Cardiocentro and of the Irccs Neuromed – show that a low level of albumin, in addition to providing indications on the nutritional status and liver health, also signals an increased susceptibility to other serious pathologies. Hypoalbuminemia could reflect that chronic inflammatory process, typical of aging, known as ‘inflammaging’, which could have contributed to the high risk of mortality that we observed.”
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