Microalbuminuria in Obese Young and Middle Aged Population: A Potential Marker of Cardiovascular Risk

Microalbuminuria is an established cardiovascular risk indicator in diabetes, hypertension and the general population. There is lack of information on MAU in healthy obese Indian adults and an ongoing debate whether obese adults deserve targeted identification and clinical intervention for MAU and prediabetes. We aimed to screen the healthy obese, young (group I) and middle aged (group II) adults for prevalence of MAU and prediabetes and study its association with Framingham risk score. The study included 50 healthy obese young (20-30 years) and middle aged adults (31-50 years), attending the outpatient clinic of Dept. of Medicine for a duration of 2 months (July-August). The patients were screened for fasting blood sugar, lipid profile and MAU. Of the total patients 28 % had MAU, 32.14 % of which had prediabetes and 33.33 % had diabetes whereas 10 % were normoglycemic. The group I patients had 50 % cases of MAU and group II had 25 % patients with MAU. Group II 63.63 % pre-diabetics. The values of MAU obtained were correlated with age, gender, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, FBS, waist to hip ratio using Pearson's Coefficient (p < 0.05). The 10 year CVD risk calculated using FRS in subjects with MAU was higher as compared to those without MAU. Thus we conclude that Indian, young and middle aged obese adults to be at a risk of prediabetes, MAU and CV risk warranting their routine screening for better clinical outcomes.