ALB and infection: Our results revealed that those with elevated levels of sIL-2R significantly increased the incidence of noncardiovascular deaths, which were mainly attributed to infection and cancer; and its relationship with noncardiovascular mortality was independent of other confounding risk factors, including age, presence of diabetes, hepatitis-seropositive status, ESA dosage, monocyte counts, hemoglobin, hs-CRP, albumin, SCr, HDL-C, β2-MG, and NT-pro-BNP.