ALB and Hypertension: When the CTI was categorized into quartiles (Q1 as the reference group) and adjusted for covariates including sex, age, smoking, alcohol consumption, BMI, statin use, SGLT2i use, hypertension, insulin use, total cholesterol, albumin, LDL-C, HDL-C, uric acid, and hemoglobin, CTI was found to be significantly positively associated with the Severity of Disease (Table 2).As CTI increased, the risk of higher disease severity rose progressively:Q2 vs Q1: OR = 1.28 (95% CI: 0.99–1.67, P = 0.061);Q3 vs Q1: OR = 1.46 (95% CI: 1.12–1.91, P = 0.005);Q4 vs Q1: OR = 1.59 (95% CI: 1.21–2.09, P < 0.001).