ALB and chronic kidney disease: In CKD patients stage 1 to 5, plasma ZAG concentrations negatively correlated with plasma protein concentration (rs = −0.284, P<0.01), albumin (rs = −0.282, P<0.05) hemoglobin (rs = −0.264, P<0.05), urea (rs = 0.283, P<0.01) and HDL-cholesterol (rs = −0.265, P<0.05).