MICROALBUMINURIA AND ASSOCIATED CLINICAL-FEATURES AMONG BRAZILIANS WITH INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS

With the objective to determine the frequency of microalbuminuria, mac roalbuminuria and the associated clinic and metabolic features among i nsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) Brazilian patients attending at a general University Hospital, a total of 50 outpatients, aged 21. 9 +/- 7 years with IDDM duration of 6.8 +/- 5.8 years were studied cro ss-sectionally. Urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) was determined in timed overnight urine samples. Microalbuminuria was defined when two out of three urine samples had AER ranging 20-200 mu g/min. Microalbum inuria was present in 12% of our patients. No macroalbuminuric patient was found. Among patients with diabetes duration less than or equal t o 5 years (n = 24), 8,3% (n = 2) had microalbuminuria. Retinopathy was strongly associated with microalbuminuria (P = 0.004) although no pro liferative retinopathy was noted. No difference was observed concernin g FBG and HBA1 between normo and microalbuminuric patients. Univariate analysis has revealed no influence of these variables in AER. Systoli c blood pressure (sBP) was high in microalbuminuric patients and stepw ise multiple regression analysis has shown that it was the only signif icant independent variable to influence AER. (R = 0.42 r(2) = 0.18 P = 0.002). In conclusion, the frequency of microalbuminuria in this samp le of IDDM Brazilian patients was similar to other populational groups and was associated with retinopathy and sBP. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e Ireland Ltd.