DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i11.085

Pages: 4742-4745

Microalbuminuria denotes an abnormally increased excretion rate of albumin in the urine in the range of 30–299 mg/g creatinine. Microalbuminuria is considered as a marker of diabetic nephropathy. The American Diabetes Association guidelines currently recommend that all patients with diabetes mellitus and micro or macroalbuminuria should be prescribed an ACE inhibitor or ARB to mitigate nephropathy irrespective of hypertension. The current study was conducted to analyse the prevalence of microalbuminuria in a sequential sample of normotensive type 2 diabetic patients attending hospital diabetic clinics and to determine its relationship with known risk factors. This cross-sectional analytical study was conducted at tertiary teaching hospital in Kerala. Patients having hypertension, macroalbuminuria, other causes of proteinuria were excluded. Data was analysed by SPSS software. Microalbuminuria was observed in 51.2% of the study population. There was statistically significant association of microalbuminuria with age, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, serum triglycerides, serum cholesterol, blood urea, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance and diabetic duration (p< 0.001). This study concludes that 51.2% of normotensive type 2 diabetic patients will require medications with ACE inhibitor or ARB as per ADA recommendations. Early screening for these risk factors among nonalbuminuric type 2 diabetic patients may optimise the renal outcome of patients with diabetes mellitus.