Discrepancies in Serum Albumin Measurements Vary by Dialysis Modality

Figures & data

Table 1. Clinical characteristics of the study patients. Baseline demographic data is similar for the two groups

	HD	PD
No. of patients	19	18
Age (yr)
Mean ± SD	41.6 ± 13.2	45.5 ± 9.4
Female gender	11 (58%)	7 (39%)
Race
Caucasian	7 (37%)	9 (50%)
African-American	4 (21%)	4 (22%)
Other	8 (42%)	5 (28%)
Cause of ESRD
Diabetes	7 (37%)	8 (45%)
Other	12 (63%)	10 (55%)

Table 2. The albumin estimations in serum and plasma are not significantly different in any of the three groups for either of the two dye methods

	BCG (mean ± SD)	BCP (mean ± SD)
Normal subjects (n = 10)
Serum	4.50 ± 0.27	4.22 ± 0.34
Plasma	4.40 ± 0.25	4.21 ± 0.36
Peritoneal dialysis (n = 19)
Serum	3.61 ± 0.33	3.02 ± 0.35
Plasma	3.59 ± 0.31	3.02 ± 0.29
Hemodialysis (n = 18)
Serum	3.71 ± 0.59	3.37 ± 0.64
Plasma	3.69 ± 0.56	3.36 ± 0.61

Figure 1. Albumin estimation by various methods in patients on PD. *Denotes P<0.001 (BCG) and P<0.01 (NM) when compared with BCP (ANOVA). This figure illustrates the fact that in the PD group albumin values by BCP are significantly less than BCG values and NM values.

Figure 2. Correlation between serum BCG and BCP in patients on PD.

Figure 3. Albumin estimation by various methods in patients on HD. The serum albumin is similar for each of the methods of measurement.

Figure 4. Correlation between serum BCG and BCP in patients on HD.

Figure 5. ΔSA in the three subject groups. The ASA is larger in PD patients when compared with normal and HD patients (p<0.0001).