Relationship between aldosterone and sodium, potassium, and uric acid clearance in cirrhosis with and without ascites.

We have suggested that cirrhotic patients with high uric acid clearances had an increased effective vascular volume. This hypothesis was tested by studying the relationship between the excretion of uric acid, sodium, potassium, and aldosterone in cirrhosis. In 29 consecutive cirrhotic patients, of whom 17 had ascites, and in a control group, the logarithm of urinary sodium and aldosterone excretion highly correlated in control (r = -0.79, p less than 0.001) and cirrhotic patients without (r = -0.72, p less than 0.01) and with (r = -0.80, p less than 0.001) ascites. The regression line significantly shifted to the left in the cirrhotic patients (p less than 0.001). The urinary ratio K/K + Na also correlated with urinary aldosterone in controls (r = +0.66, p less than 0.001) and in cirrhotic patients (r = +0.77, p less than 0.001); this regression line shifted to the right in cirrhosis patients (p less than 0.02). The fractional uric acid excretion significantly correlated with urinary aldosterone only in cirrhotic patients (r = -0.76, p less than 0.001). These data confirmed the existence of hypoaldosteronism in many cirrhotic patients and are consistent with tubular hypersensitivity to aldosterone and emphasize the major role of the effective vascular volume in the control of urid acid clearance in cirrhosis.