Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Microalbuminuria was originally established as a predictor of renal failure in patients with diabetes mellitus and an indipendent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of our study is to assess the relationship between microalbuminuria and the other risk factors in diabetics and their prevalence.

Methods: 120 patients with type 2 diabetes, were hospitalized at the Internal Medicine in the University Hospital Center ‘Mother Teresa’ in Tirana. Patients were divided in two groups: with and without microalbuminuria and for each group we evaluated cardiovascular risk factors such as: left ventricular mass index (LVMI), body mass index (BMI), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), lipidic profile, intima media thickness (IMT).

Results: Prevalence of microalbuminuria in our study is 32.3%. Prevalence of microalbuminuria among males was 37.5% and among females 62.5%. The microalbuminuric patients were older and had a longer duration of diabetes compared with normoalbuminuric patients (P=0.01). The microalbuminuric patients had significantly increased LVMI compared with normoalbuminuric group (P=0.02). Prevalence of obesity (BMI >30 kg/m²) in type 2 diabetics patients was high. In our study this prevalence is 44.6%. In microalbuminuric group the mean value of BMI (30.13) was higher than the other group (28.00) (P=0.04). Presence of retinopathy was significantly higher in patients with microalbuminuri. (33.3% vs 14.6%) (P=0.05). In patients with microalbuminuria the mean value of IMT was higher than the other group (1.28 vs 1.09) (P=0.03)

Conclusion: The prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with diabetes is high. In microalbuminuric group LVMI, IMT, BMI, duration of diabetes is significantly higher than normoalbuminuric group.