Does higher serum albumin level reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation?
Higher serum albumin levels are associated with a linearly decreased risk of atrial fibrillation, with a 36% risk reduction per 10 g/L increase.
Background: The dose-response association between serum albumin and atrial fibrillation is not well known. This study aims to assess the relationship between albumin and atrial fibrillation and the potential dose-response effect. Methods: Studies reported that the serum albumin and AF were identified by searching the EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases. The potential dose-response effect was performed by using a stage robust error meta-regression. Results: Nine studies were included with a total of 32,130 individuals. Patients with high albumin level were associated with a decreased risk of atrial fibrillation compared with patients with low serum albumin (ORodds ratio: 0.62, 95% CI 0.44, 0.89; I 2 = 76%; P = 0.009). In the dose-response analysis, for each 10 g/L increase in serum albumin level, the risk of atrial fibrillation decreased by 36% (95% CI: 0.51-0.81, I 2 = 87%, P P nonlinearity = 0.33) was found. Conclusion: Our dose-response meta-analysis suggests that low serum albumin level is associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Further studies are needed to explore the effect of induction of elevated serum albumin levels on the prevention of atrial fibrillation.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.