The Association between Inflammatory Biomarkers and Microalbuminuria in a Nigerian Cohort of Hypertensive Individuals: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Essential hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Nigeria, the prevalence of hypertension is high, with estimates ranging from 20% to 40%, and many of the cases are either undiagnosed or poorly controlled, leading to target organ damage. The study seeks to assess the relationship between selected inflammatory markers and microalbuminuria among hypertensive subjects with and without microalbuminuria and normotensive controls. This is a cross-sectional study of individuals with essential hypertension. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from 60 hypertensive subjects (30 with microalbuminuria positive and 30 with microalbuminuria negative) and 30 (age-matched) apparently healthy nonhypertensive controls. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 27.0. Descriptive, inferential, and correlational statistics were used. Results: Serum highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM1), and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM1) were markedly higher among individuals with hypertension than controls. Inflammatory markers were markedly higher among participants who tested positive for microalbuminuria than those who tested negative for microalbuminuria. Measured inflammatory markers, except ICAM1 and VCAM1, correlated with microalbuminuria. After adjusting for age, body mass index, and mean arterial blood pressure, hs-CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α, P < 0.05 remained independently associated with microalbuminuria in a multivariate regression analysis among microalbuminuria-positive hypertensive subjects. Conclusion: The findings confirmed that systemic inflammation markers such as neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, hs-CRP, IL-6, and TNF-α were positively associated, while interleukin-10 was inversely associated with microalbuminuria among study participants.