John OsborneChief Medical Officer at ClearCardio LLC

Is This Protein Signal Warning You of Heart Disease?

23 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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In this video, John Osborne highlights the urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) as a largely overlooked yet highly predictive biomarker for cardiovascular disease. He traces the origins of this insight back to mid‑20th‑century life‑insurance research that examined New York City policemen. Those studies found that individuals with higher urinary albumin excretion faced significantly greater cardiovascular mortality. Osborne argues that this historical evidence underscores the clinical value of measuring UACR today as an early warning signal of heart disease, positioning it as a simple, inexpensive test that can inform risk assessment and preventive strategies.

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The life insurance industry started looking into albumin-to-creatinine ratio in the 1950s, and they tested that hypothesis with policemen in New York City, and they observed a urine test for albumin-to-creatinine ratio. This is one of the most underlooked and predictive tests that one can obtain. If we go back to the 1950s and '60s, we already had inkling that this inflammation was important. Why do I say that? Because the life insurance industry started looking into albumin-to-creatinine ratio in the 1950s, and they tested that hypothesis with policemen in New York City, and they observed that policemen who had higher albumin excretion rates in the urine had a much higher cardiovascular mortality. So this is a very important test.