A commonly used biomarker of kidney disease may also indicate lung problems, particularly COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to new research published online in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
In “Albuminuria, Lung Function Decline, and Risk of Incident COPD: the NHLBI Pooled Cohorts Study,” Elizabeth C. Oelsner, MD, MPH, and coauthors report a link between albuminuria, the amount of the protein albumin in urine, and COPD. The researchers conducted their study by pooling information from 31,877 participants (average age: 60 years) from six cohort studies funded mainly by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
