Urine Test Could Warn About Cognitive Decline

The presence of albuminuria — too much albumin, or protein, in urine — detected by a urine test could be used as an independent predictor of cognitive decline. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston tracked more than 1,200 women ages 70 and older in the Nurses’Health Study for six years who were tested on general cognition, verbal/word memory, speed in making word associations and short-term memory. They found that the women with albuminuria at the start of the study experienced cognitive decline at a rate two to seven times faster than those who had cognitive decline due to aging but did not have albuminuria.The findings were presented at Renal Week held by theAmerican Society of Nephrology.