Diabetes, Vol 39, Issue 7 761-767, Copyright © 1990 by American Diabetes Association
Prediction of clinical diabetic nephropathy in IDDM patients. Alternatives to microalbuminuria?
CE Mogensen
Medical Department M, Second University Clinic of Internal Medicine, Kommunehospitalet, Arhus, Denmark.
This perspective deals with prediction of overt diabetic nephropathy in
patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). The role of
elevated urinary albumin excretion rate (microalbuminuria) in predicting
diabetic nephropathy has been emphasized by new follow-up studies.
Development of severe kidney impairment was seen in a large percentage of
patients with microalbuminuria, but with more intensive care for diabetic
patients, this percentage may be falling. Herein, I analyzed alternatives
to microalbuminuria in predicting kidney disease in diabetes. 1) Parental
predisposition to hypertension is not seen in all studies and therefore may
not be a decisive factor, and it cannot be used in prediction of
nephropathy. 2) Prediabetic blood pressure may predict nephropathy in
certain non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients, but elevated blood
pressure seems to develop after early microalbuminuria and is likely to be
an aggravating factor in established microalbuminuria in IDDM patients. 3)
At the clinical diagnosis of IDDM, diabetic nephropathy cannot be
predicted. 4) Glycemic control is poor in normoalbuminuric patients with
later development of microalbuminuria, and multiple glycosylated hemoglobin
measurements are therefore important. 5) In diabetes, glomerular
hyperfiltration is associated with late nephropathy, but it alone cannot be
the decisive factor, because hyperfiltration in nondiabetic individuals
does not produce kidney disease, according to new long-term follow-up
studies. 6) Studies of glomerular structure and ultrastructure have not yet
documented predictive values for overt nephropathy, but further studies are
in progress. 7) Isolated blood pressure elevation without microabuminuria
(probably representing essential hypertension in diabetes) has not been
predictive. 8) It is clear that elevation of serum creatinine is a very
late and insensitive parameter, occurring only with pronounced
proteinuria.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)