Biomedical Research

An association between urinary albumin excretion and an increased incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) has already been demonstrated. However, the prevalence of microalbuminuria (MA) in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) Thai patients, especially in the northeastern part of Thailand, has not been reported. We, therefore, aimed to conduct a cross-sectional study to investigate the prevalence of urinary albumin excretion in T2DM patients at Nong Wua Saw Hospital, Udon Thani Province, Thailand. A total of 1,025 T2DM patients were enrolled in this study. Spot morning urine samples were screened for elevated urinary albumin excretion (UAE). Positive UAE screening tests were further analyzed for a quantitative measurement of albuminuria. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of the population age was 61.35 ± 10.97 years. The overall prevalence of albuminuria was 33%. The prevalence of macroalbuminuria and MA was 33.3% and 38%, respectively. The demographic profiles and MA showed that T2DM patients at an age>60 years old were found with MA more frequently than those at an age ≤60 years old by up to 1.5-fold (p-value=0.001, OR (95% CI)=1.53 (1.19-1.97)). Moreover, female patients with DM had a higher level of MA than male patients (p-value=0.002, OR (95% CI)=0.67 (0.51-0.88)). The present study showed that the prevalence of MA among T2DM patients was 38%. Age and gender were risk factors for the development of MA. Early detection and awareness of these factors can improve patient prognosis and reduce the burden of overt DM nephropathy in future studies.

Author(s): Kwuntida Uthaisar Kotepui, Rattanaporn Saimee, Manas Kotepui
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