Relation of microalbuminuria to glycosylated hemoglobin and duration of type 2 diabetes

Background: Nephropathy is one of the complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus that could lead to end-stage renal disease. Persistent microalbuminuria is the best predictor of high risk of developing diabetic nephropathy. The relation between HbA 1c and microalbuminuria with the duration of diabetes is not clear. Objectives: To determine microalbuminuria levels in type 2 diabetics and to correlate changes in microalbuminuria levels to glycosylated hemoglobin level and duration of diabetes. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted at Medical College, Kolkata. Fifty both male and female type 2 diabetics of age groups 30-60 years, without any complications were taken as cases and 50 healthy (male and female) subjects of comparable age were taken as controls. Cases with anemia, any other diseases or person using drugs that could affect HbA 1c levels and microalbuminuria were excluded from the study. Fasting and postprandial blood glucose, HbA 1c serum urea and serum creatinine were analyzed. Urine was analyzed for microalbuminuria. The Statistical Software SPSS 15.0 were used for the analysis of the data. Results: Urinary microalbumin, HbA 1c levels were significantly higher in the cases. Microalbumin levels were linearly correlated to the duration of diabetes and HbA 1c. Conclusions: Impaired glycemic control is associated with significant elevations in urinary microalbumin levels. Furthermore, there is an increased urinary microalbumin levels with increased duration of diabetes, which suggests that the detection of increased urinary microalbumin levels at the initial stage can avert, reduce the clinical and economic burden of diabetic complications in future.