To evaluate the frequency of microalbuminuria and associated clinical and metabolic features, we studied 72 type 1 diabetic subjects [DM1, 38F/34M; 6 children, 17 adolescents and 49 adults; aged 22.7±9.5 years and with DM duration of 7 years (0.1-37.5)]. Urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) was determined in timed overnight urine samples by RIA. Microalbuminuria was defined when 2 out of 3 urine samples had AER in the range of 20-200mug/min. Microalbuminuria was present in 25% of our patients (16 adults and 2 adolescents), who were older (27.3±5.8 vs 20.9±10.1 years, p<0.001), had a longer DM duration [11.0 (0.1-17.0) vs 5.9 (1.0-37.5) years, p<0.05], higher body mass index (22.7±2.6 vs 20.8±3.1, p<0.05), urea (32.4±7.8 vs 28.3±5.9mg/dl, p<0.05) and creatinine [0.7 (0.6-1.2) vs 0.6 (0.4-1.1) mg/dl, p<0.05] than normoalbuminuric. Microalbuminuria was associated with retinopathy (p<0.05). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that age was the only independent predictive variable of AER (r²= 0.13, p<0.05). In conclusion, age was an independent factor associated with AER. Even though microalbuminuria was not observed in children in our sample, screening in this age group should be decided by each diabetes center according to their objectives.
Microalbuminuria; Type 1 diabetes; Age; Diabetes duration; Retinopathy
