Environment, Inflammation and Metabolic Diseases Study

The primary outcome is the prevalence of autonomous aldosterone secretion at baseline. Autonomous aldosterone secretion is defined by plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) ≥100 pg/mL combined with plasma renin concentration (PRC) ≤15 uIU/mL in study participants at enrollment. Prevalence will be calculated as the number of participants meeting the above biochemical criteria divided by the total enrolled participants in the target population, presented as percentage with corresponding 95% confidence interval.

To identify independent demographic, clinical, biochemical, and anthropometric risk factors associated with prevalent autonomous aldosterone secretion.Autonomous aldosterone secretion is biochemically defined as plasma aldosterone concentration ≥100 pg/mL and plasma renin concentration ≤15 uIU/mL. Multivariable regression analysis will be applied to evaluate significant associated factors; effect sizes (e.g., odds ratio) with 95% confidence intervals and P-values will be reported.

To evaluate the cross-sectional association between biochemically defined autonomous aldosterone secretion and chronic kidney disease as well as metabolic abnormalities in study participants at baseline. AAS is defined as plasma aldosterone concentration ≥100 pg/mL combined with plasma renin concentration ≤15 uIU/mL. Chronic kidney disease and metabolic disorders will be defined according to current clinical guidelines; relevant correlation and regression analyses will be performed to report effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals and P-values.

To explore differentially expressed key proteins, enriched signaling pathways and candidate molecular biomarkers correlated with biochemical autonomous aldosterone secretion (AAS) via quantitative proteomic technology. AAS is defined as plasma aldosterone concentration ≥100 pg/mL and plasma renin concentration ≤15 uIU/mL. Bioinformatics analyses including protein differential expression profiling, functional enrichment analysis and pathway annotation will be performed to identify core molecular targets and potential diagnostic biomarkers for AAS.