The Role of Hypoalbuminemia in the Development of Reinke's Edema: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Abstract

To investigate hypoalbuminemia's role in Reinke's edema (RE) development. A prospective cohort study was conducted at a single tertiary medical center between 2021 and 2024, which compared 41 hypoalbuminemia patients (total protein [TP] < 60 g/L, albumin [ALB] < 30 g/L) with 43 controls. Laryngoscopy assessed RE severity at baseline and after 6 months. Patients with a smoking history, vocal abuse, hypothyroidism, or prior malignancy were excluded. After 6 months of follow-up, the hypoalbuminemia group exhibited a significantly higher prevalence of RE compared to controls (24.4% vs. 7.0%, p = 0.027). Logistic regression confirmed hypoalbuminemia as an independent risk factor for RE (OR = 0.900, p = 0.010). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that serum ALB levels predicted RE with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.754 with an optimal cut-off of 27.95 g/L. Hypoalbuminemia may be an independent etiological factor for RE, warranting vocal fold evaluation in chronic cases.