Frequency of alcohol drinking modifies the association between salt intake and albuminuria

Albuminuria is an important risk factor for end-stage kidney disease and cardiovascular mortality. A 1-year observational study aimed to assess the effect modification of alcohol drinking on the association between salt intake and albuminuria.
448 employees at a pharmaceutical company in Japan who underwent annual health checkups in both 2017 and 2018 were evaluated. The main exposure of interest was drinking frequency at their first checkups categorised as rarely, occasionally, and daily. To assess the association between the changes in salt intake and albuminuria, the differences in salt intake estimated from single-spot urine specimens and the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) between 2017 and 2018 were calculated for each subject.
The study found a significant association between ∆salt intake and ∆Log UACR. The association between ∆salt intake and ∆Log UACR was enhanced by drinking frequency in a dose-dependent manner (per 1 g/day of ∆salt intake, adjusted ß 0.13 [0.06, 0.19], 0.16 [0.12, 0.20], and 0.20 [0.13, 0.27] in rare, occasional, and daily drinkers, respectively).
In conclusion, the results of the study indicated that salt-induced albuminuria was enhanced in subjects with higher drinking frequency, suggesting that salt restriction may have a stronger reno protective effect in subjects with higher drinking frequency.
Source: Yoshimura R, Yamamoto R, Shinzawa M, Tomi R, Ozaki S, Fujii Y, Ito T, Tanabe K, Moriguchi Y, Isaka Y, Moriyama T. Frequency of alcohol drinking modifies the association between salt intake and albuminuria: a 1-year observational study. Hypertens Res. 2020 Nov;43(11):1249-1256.