Assessment of Albumin Status in Hypertensive Patients with or Without Cataract in Eyes’ Foundation Hospital, Itamogiri, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This research work assessed albumin concentration level in hypertensive patients with or without cataract at Eyes' Foundation Hospital at Itamogiri, Ijebu -Mushin in ijebu-East Local Government Area and General Hospital Ijebu-Ode both in Ogun State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling was used to select the 150 samples from the study area. Fifty (50) healthy staffs and individuals who volunteered to help with the research were used as control group, while group A (test) comprises of fifty (50) hypertensive patients without history of cataract and group B (test) comprises of fifty (50) hypertensive patients with history of cataract. Blood samples were taken under the same conditions in all individuals and analysed for albumin level using spectrophotometer. The findings showed that there was no significant difference in albumin level between the control group (Mean ± SD = 48.12 ± 8.20 g/L) as compared with test group A (Mean ± SD = 49.19 ± 10.19 g/L) but in comparing albumin level in control group and test group B, the findings showed that there was significant reduction in albumin concentration of test group B with Mean ± SD = 44.35 ± 11.99 g/L indicating hypertension (with cataract) had significantly decreased levels of plasma albumin when compared to non-cataract hypertensive patients. This shows that cataract could directly influence increase in serum albumin concentration of hypertensive patients. Salt restricted diet should be advised in such patients after evaluating serum electrolyte level which may delay maturation and progression of Cataract.