Association of novel inflammatory predictor serum C-reactive protein (CRP)/Albumin ratio with diabetic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes patients

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the largest health problems globally and poses a potentially significant economic burden. Chronic inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM) is involved in the onset and development of DKD. In recent times, a novel inflammatory predictor, serum C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio has been studied in various inflammatory conditions. Since DKD is associated with chronic and low-grade inflammation, we aimed to analyze the levels of CRP/albumin ratio for the patients with type 2 Diabetic kidney disease (T2DKD) to those without DKD. A total of 176 diabetic patients were enrolled in the study, of which 81 were T2DKD and 95 were T2DM. The baseline demographic and clinical data including CRP/albumin ratio between the study groups were compared. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors of T2DKD and the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was established to evaluate the predictive value of CRP/albumin ratio on T2DKD. CRP/albumin ratio was found to be an independent risk factor for DKD (after adjustment to potential confounders such as BMI, Fasting blood glucose, HbA1C and total cholesterol). The ROC analysis revealed that C-reactive protein/albumin ratio levels greater than 0.69 mg/g have 79 % sensitivity and 78% specificity in predicting DKD. Our results show that CRP/albumin ratio was elevated in type 2 diabetic patients with kidney disease. Thus, DKD is accompanied by elevated CRP levels, suggesting activation of inflammatory pathways in the progression of renovasculopathies.