The prevalence of peripheral vascular disease in type 2 diabetic patients with and without proteinuria

It has been reported that albumin excretion rate may reflect not only an indication of renal disease but also a widespread vascular damage. We studied the relationship between overnight albumin excretion rate (AER) and peripheral vascular disease (PVD), using Doppler ultrasound, and its major risk factors in 80 Type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients. Thirty-eight of these patients had normoalbuminuria (AER < 30 micrograms/min), 22 had microalbuminuria (30-200 micrograms/min) and 20 had macroalbuminuria (> 200 micrograms/min). Patients with macroalbuminuria were older than those with normoalbuminuria (p < 0.01) and they also had a longer duration of diabetes (p < 0.05). Patients with elevated albumin excretion rates had elevated prevalence of PVD (macroalbuminuric 40%, p < 0.01; microalbuminuric 27.2%, p < 0.05; vs normoalbuminuric 7.8%). Among the risk factors analysed, hypertension and triglyceride concentrations were higher in the proteinuric diabetics (macroalbuminuric p < 0.001, p < 0.01; microalbuminuric p = NS, p < 0.01 respectively), while HDL-C levels were found to be significantly lower in this group (p < 0.05). In the diabetic group as a whole, raised AER was correlated with PVD (p < 0.05), duration of diabetes and systolic blood pressure (p < 0.01). We conclude that the prevalence of PVD was significantly higher in Type 2 diabetic patients with elevated albumin excretion rate. Furthermore, these patients had higher blood pressure and low HDL-C.