Proteinuria prevalence in insulin-treated patients: prediction of need for end-stage renal failure treatment

In the Dundee Diabetic clinic area (population circa 250,000), a population-based survey of the prevalence of proteinuria in diabetic patients treated with insulin showed that 9.4% of such patients had persistent proteinuria. The percentage of males with proteinuria was 11.4%, against 7.2% of females. An additional 5.2% of patients had proteinuria observed once, but did not meet the criteria for persistent proteinuria. No result was available in 10% of patients for a variety of reasons. Not every patient with diabetes and persistent proteinuria will progress to end-stage renal failure, but consideration of the group as a whole allows predictions based on published reports, to be made of the likely future incidence of renal failure, and hence future need for renal replacement services. We estimate that over the next decade two patients per 125,000 total population will develop renal failure each year. If survival is unchanged, there could be two or three times that number on treatment at any time.