Relationship of elevated urinary albumin excretion to components of the metabolic syndrome in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Microalbuminuria is associated with increased morbidity and early mortality in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), mostly due to cardiovascular disease. This association may be due to a higher prevalence of known cardiovascular risk factors in those with microalbuminuria. We examined the relationship of microalbuminuria to components of the metabolic syndrome in 98 NIDDM patients with elevated urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) (> 10.5 μg/min) (high UAER) and 102 normoalbuminuric NIDDM patients. Patients with high UAER were older than normoalbuminuric patients (P <0.05), but they did not differ with respect to duration of diabetes, total cholesterol, body mass index (BMI) or the prevalence of smoking. A total of 58 (60%) patients with elevated UAER had two or more of hypertension, ischaemic heart disease (IHD), hypertriglyceridaemia and obesity compared with 41 (40%) in the normoalbuminuric group, (P <0.05). Only nine (9.2%) high UAER patients had none of the above risk factors compared with 26 (25.5%) in the normoalbuminuric group (P 160/95) was significantly higher in high UAER patients; 61/98 (62%) versus 39/102 (38%) in normoalbuminuric group, (P