Increased albumin excretion is often a concomitant of several unfavorable metabolic and nonmetabolic risk factors that indicates the presence of subclinical organ damage at the renal and cardiac level. Because of unique ability to reflect many clinically relevant abnormalities, microalbuminuria (MA) is currently considered as a marker of cardiovascular risk in human medicine. The present study was therefore initiated in an attempt to clarify the relationship between blood pressure, urine protein/creatinine ratio (UPC) and MA in dogs with cardiovascular disorders (CVD).

Totally 40 dogs with different complaints such as coughing, weakness, exercise intolerance referred to Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Istanbul University were included in this study. The ages varied between 2 and 18 years. Microalbuminuria (E.R.D. Health Screen Test), electrocardiography (ECG), echocardiography, UPC and blood pressure measurement (HDO) levels were detected in every patient. Serum BUN, creatinine, glucose, LDH, CK, K and urine analyses were also assessed.

CVDs were determined as mitral valve disease (n = 20), dilated cardiomyopathy (n =12), myocarditis (n = 2), tricuspid valve disease (n = 3), aortic stenosis (n = 1), ventricular septal defect (n = 1) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (n = 1). Twenty three of 40 had also diabetes mellitus (n = 3), lower urinary tract disease (n = 13) and chronic renal failure (n = 4), epilepsy (n = 2) and bronchitis (n = 1). MA was detected as positively in 29 dogs with different levels. Seventeen of these dogs with only CVDs had positive results for MA.

When MA (+) and MA (-) groups compared, urine specific gravity was increased (p<0.05) and urine creatinine was decreased significantly (p<0.01) in MA (+) dogs, statistically. Serum BUN and Creatinine had a positive correlation with UPC at the level of p<0.01, statistically. Although there was a positive correlation between urine protein and urine creatinine, negative correlation was detected between UPC and urine creatinine. There were also positive correlations between LDH and CK (p<0.01), CK and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (p<0.01), CK and UPC (p<0.01), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and DBP (p<0.01).

It is emphasized that microalbuminuria has been shown as a new marker to predict the risk of cardiovascular disorders in dogs.