ALBUMINURIA IN DIABETIC CHILDREN

Abstract

Sligth albuminuria has been induced by exercise in young adults with juvenile-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus of short duration. We studied the influence of exercise on albuminuria in 46 diabetic and 38 healthy children using radioimmunoassay. The age of the children ranged from 9 to 18 years. The children worked on a bicycle ergometer for 16 minutes with increasing work load. In both groups, the pulse rate at the end of the exercise was 185±6/min.At rest the geometric mean of the albumin excretion rate of healthy children was 4.7 μg/min/m2, that of diabetics with a duration less than 5 years 6.0 μg/min/m2 and with a duration more than 5 years 9.1 μg/min/m2. During exercise the albumin excretion was 8.5, 10.0 and 19.5 μg/min/m2, respectively. During rest and exercise the albumin excretion was significantly increased in children with diabetes for more than 5 years.At rest the extent of albuminuria correlated with blood HbA1 concentration.During exercise there was a correlation between albuminuria and blood pressure rise in diabetic but not in healthy children. It is concluded that early signs of diabetic nephropathy can be detected with special techniques as soon as in childhood and the appearance of albuminuria is dependent on the metabolic balance of diabetes.