Prevalence of microalbuminuria and associated risk factors among type 2 diabetic patients attending some selected hospitals in Kano State, Nigeria

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem accompanied by severe oxidative stress as well as acute metabolic and late systemic complications. Diabetic nephropathy as one of the late systemic complications is increasing steeply along with diabetes epidemic. Microalbuminuria (MA) as a biomarker plays an important role in the early detection of diabetic nephropathy (DN). The aim of the study was to check the prevalence of microalbuminuria risk factors associated with micro-albuminuria in type 2 diabetic patients. The study recruited 84 normotensive type 2 diabetic patients with and without MA and 84 age and gender-matched apparently healthy individuals as control group. Anthropometric measures including age, height, BMI and weight were assessed among the study participants. Plasma glucose, urea, creatinine, Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c), urinary creatinine, urinary albumin and microalbuminuria were analyzed. The prevalence of MA among the diabetic patients was 22.6%. The measured anthropometric and biochemical parameters were significantly higher in the diabetic group than the control group (p<0.05). There was a linear increase with positive and significant association between GHbA1ccontrol and MA development as the control worsens. According to disease duration (DOD), MA increased linearly as DOD elongated but the difference was insignificant. Female gender has higher but insignificant MA compared to the male gender. GHbA1c control has a direct effect on MA while disease duration effect may be pronounced as the time prolonged. BMI, gender, urea and FBG have no significant effect on ACR.