Proteinuria in Mexican Americans and non-Hispanic whites with NIDDM

Mexican Americans have a threefold greater prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) than non-Hispanic Whites as found in the San Antonio Heart Study, a population-based study of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition, Mexican-American diabetic subjects have higher levels of glycemia than non-Hispanic White diabetic subjects. We therefore hypothesized that the prevalence of clinical proteinuria would be greater among Mexican-American diabetic subjects (n = 317) than among non-Hispanic White diabetic subjects (n = 67). Clinical proteinuria, defined as greater than or equal to 1+ on the Ames Albustix test, was 2.82 times more prevalent in Mexican-American diabetic subjects compared with non-Hispanic White diabetic subjects adjusting for age and duration (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05, 7.55; P = .039). After controlling for other possible confounding variables (i.e., glycemia, systolic blood pressure, smoking, and insulin use), the excess of proteinuria in Mexican-American diabetic subjects was only slightly attenuated, although the statistical significance became borderline (odds ratio [OR] = 2.59, 95% CI = 0.91, 7.32; P = .072). The prevalence of microalbuminuria (greater than 30 mg/L) was also significantly higher in Mexican-American diabetic subjects than in non-Hispanic White diabetic subjects (OR = 3.54, 95% CI = 1.28, 9.81; P = .015). We also compared previously diagnosed Mexican-American diabetic subjects (n = 243) from San Antonio with previously diagnosed non-Hispanic White diabetic subjects in Wisconsin (n = 476).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)