Aims: We investigated whether or not serum albumin concentrations in Down Syndrome were lower than those of a cohort of similarly moderately- to-severely-disabled institutionalised patients without Down Syndrome and, if so, whether or not this could be ascribed to the presence of liver disease. We also sought to determine the influence of Down Syndrome, age, liver disease, and Alzheimer's Disease on the serum albumin concentration.
Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study on 205 institutionalised patients with Learning Disabilities (47 with Down Syndrome, 158 without), and used multiple regression techniques to determine the relative effects of age, liver disease, and the presence or absence of Down Syndrome on the serum albumin concentration. Among Down Syndrome patients. We also sought to determine the association between serum albumin concentration and the presence of Dementia of Alzheimer's Type.
Results: Down Syndrome patients had lower serum albumin levels than non-Down Syndrome patients. Serum albumin concentrations declined with age at a similar rate in both groups, such that the effect on serum albumin of having Down Syndrome was equivalent to an additional 44 years of age. The serum albumin concentration in Down Syndrome patients with Alzheimer's Disease was greater than that in Down Syndrome patients without Alzheimer's Disease.
Conclusions: Down Syndrome is associated with a low serum albumin concentration, independently of the presence of liver disease. The advent of Alzheimer's Disease in Down Syndrome is not associated with a further fall, and may be associated with a rise, in serum albumin concentrations.