Albuminuria is a marker of increasing intracranial and extracranial vascular involvement in Type 2 diabetic Chinese patients.
OBJECTIVE
Albuminuria has been reported to be a marker of cardiovascular risk factors and disease morbidity and mortality, but its relationship with intracerebral atherosclerotic disease is less clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between albuminuria and intracranial and extracranial vascular involvement in Chinese Type 2 diabetic patients.


METHODS
The anthropometric and fasting biochemical measurements of 966 Type 2 diabetic patients with normoalbuminuria (55.6%), microalbuminuria (27.7%) or macroalbuminuria (16.7%) were compared. The prevalence of microvascular and macrovascular disease and middle cerebral artery (MCA) stenosis, measured by transcranial Doppler ultrasound, were also compared between the groups.


RESULTS
Albuminuria was closely associated with a range of adverse parameters, including high BP, dyslipidaemia, smoking and adiposity (all p<0.01). The prevalence of microvascular disease (retinopathy p<0.001) and macrovascular disease (peripheral vascular disease p=0.012, myocardial infarction, p=0.004, MCA stenosis p<0.001) increased significantly with increasing levels of albuminuria. Albuminuria was also found to be an independent predictor of microvascular and macrovascular disease.


CONCLUSIONS
Albuminuria was an independent predictor of increasing levels of vascular risk factors and microvascular and macrovascular disease in this group of Type 2 diabetic patients, and a possible role for albuminuria as a marker of intracranial cerebrovascular disease should be further investigated.
Thomas
G N
GN
Department of Community Medicine, 5/F Academic and Administration Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China. gneilthomas@yahoo.co.uk.
Lin
J W
JW
Lam
W W M
WW
Tomlinson
B
B
Yeung
V
V
Chan
J C N
JC
Wong
K S
KS
D000368:Aged; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine; D001775:Blood Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000652:urine*; D003925:Diabetic Angiopathies / Q000453:epidemiology*; D017719:Diabetic Foot / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values
D015415:Biomarkers