Exploring the Correlates of Hematological Parameters With Early Diabetic Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) with nephropathy is a common complication in poorly controlled diabetes. Uncontrolled DM leads to intraglomerular vascular changes that cause physical injury to capillary walls, causing a profibrotic response in kidneys. The present study aimed to determine the association of hematological markers with microalbuminuria in early diabetic nephropathy.

A single-center, cross-sectional study was conducted over the period of two years at the Department of Medicine of Pradyumna Bal Memorial Hospital, Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences. A total of 90 patients diagnosed with type 2 DM were classified into two groups (group A and group B) according to microalbuminuria; there were 45 patients in each group. Levels of hematological markers, i.e., neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and red cell distribution width (RDW), between the study groups were examined and compared.

A significant difference in NLR was found between groups A and B (p = 0.001). A statistically significant difference in RDW was found between the groups (p = 0.015). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of inflammatory markers and microalbuminuria prediction showed an area under the curve of 0.814 for NLR and 0.656 for RDW.

Hematological parameters like NLR and RDW are elevated in early diabetic nephropathy patients. NLR is found to be a better marker than RDW in predicting early nephropathy.