<p class="email"><strong>Background</strong></p><p class="email">Microalbuminuria is the earliest evidence of diabetic nephropathy and a major predictor of end stage renal disease (ESRD). The objective of the study was to determine the influence of several risk factors on the presence of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetics.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Methods</strong></p><p>This observational cross-sectional study was done on 73 patients with type 2 diabetes, who attended the <em>Prolanis</em> program in Primary Health Care from May to November 2018. Detailed medical histories including duration of diabetes and relevant clinical examinations including fasting blood sugar (FBS), post-prandial blood sugar (PPBS), HbA1c, serum creatinine, blood urea and urinary microalbumin were recorded for each patient. A multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the data. The analysis was assessed at 5% level of significance.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Results</strong></p><p>Mean age of study population was 51.89 ± 6.78 years with female preponderance (51.1%). Mean FBS, PPBS, HbA1c, duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure, microalbuminuria and serum creatinine was 182.51 ± 74.63 mg/dL, 186.25 ± 26.72 mg/dL, 8.8 ± 1.83%, 9.37 ± 5.96 years, 118.44 ± 4.13 mmHg, 30.32 ± 3.2 mg/day and 1.33 ± 0.64 mg/dL respectively. Duration of diabetes and HbA1c were positively correlated with microalbuminuria (β=0.052; Beta =0.367; p<0.001 and β=0.058; Beta=0.363; p<0.001) respectively.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong></p><p>Duration of diabetes was the most important risk factor of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes patients. Therefore microalbuminuria can predict diabetic nephropathy earlier, as a warning to prevent further worsening of diabetic complications.</p><p class="fax"> </p>
Comment on Schmitz et al. Recurrent Subthreshold Depression in Type 2 Diabetes: An Important Risk Factor for Poor Health Outcomes. Diabetes Care 2014;37:970–978
