Correlation of urinary albumin levels with the severity of retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation of urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) with diabetic retinopathy (DR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods Two hundred and twenty-one patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were selected and divided into non DR group (NDR), non proliferative DR (NPDR) group and proliferative DR group (PDR) according to fundus examination results. The clinical biochemical indexes and risk factors of DR lesions were observed and analyzed. Results The prevalence rate of DR group was 39.36%, and was 35.29%, 4.07% of NPDR group and PDR group, respectively. The indexes of diabetes, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbAlc) and other indicators of NPDR and PDR group were higher than those of NDR group (P<0.05). In PDR group, the systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol and other indicators were higher than those in NDR group; the levels of serum creatinine (Cr), urine albumin was also higher than those in NDR and NPDR group (P<0.05); The glomerular filtration rate of NDR and NPDR group was higher than that of PDR group (P<0.05). There was positive correlation of the incidence of UAER with DR (P<0.05). Regression results showed that the duration of diabetes, HbA1c, UAER were the independent risk factors of DR. Conclusions There is close relationship between UAER and DR, which can be detected as early as possible by screening DR. Key words: Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Urinary albumin excretion rate; Retinopathy; Correlation