ALB and diabetes mellitus: Table 1 provides a summary of the baseline characteristics of the study population, organized by AAC level. The weighted mean age of the study participants was 57.42±11.53 years, with the weighted proportion of females being 51.34%. Statistically significant differences (all P values < 0.05) were observed in age, poverty status, education level, marital status, smoking, albuminuria, chronic kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, CVD, albumin, and across different AAC levels (Table 1).