Clinical characteristics associated with microalbuminuria in an adult diabetic population

A study was conducted to identify clinical characteristics which might distinguish individuals at risk for diabetic nephropathy. A cross-sectional survey measuring microalbuminuria in a population of 140 diabetic adults was performed and several clinical parameters among subgroups with different clinical types of diabetes, based upon age of onset and insulin treatment, were examined. In 67 insulin-treated patients with onset of diabetes at or after the age of 30 who had elevated albumin excretion rates, significantly greater duration of diabetes, age, blood pressure, serum creatinine, body mass index, and serum triglycerides were found. In this group of maturity onset insulin-treated diabetic patients, there was a significantly smaller proportion of smokers in the microalbuminuria group than in the group with normal excretion. No such distinctions were seen in 58 maturity onset patients with and without microalbuminuria who were not receiving insulin. In 15 insulin dependent patients with onset in early adulthood, only age and duration distinguished those with, or without, microalbuminuria. Analysis of microalbuminuria, taking into account diabetes therapy and other clinical and demographic data, may provide clues to the pathophysiology of renal disease in diabetes mellitus.