Significance of microalbuminuria in atherosclerotic vascular disease.

Microalbuminuria is considered as a sign of high risk of renal disease in type 1 diabetes mellitus, and of cardiovascular disease in types 1 and 2 diabetes. In recent years numerous studies have suggested that microalbuminuria may be associated with atherosclerotic vascular disease, independently from diabetes mellitus. The presence of microalbuminuria was investigated in 30 patients suffering from atherosclerotic vascular disease: ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease or arterial disease of the lower extremities. They were divided into two groups similar in age: 13 with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and 17 without diabetes. The aim of the research was to reveal eventually different prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with vascular disease associated with diabetes or without diabetes. Microalbuminuria was present in 52.9% of the non diabetic patients and in 76.9% of the diabetics, but the difference did not reach statistical significance (in Mann-Whitney test p = 0.18; Chi-square test = 0.83; p = 0.3). No significant correlation was found between microalbuminuria and fibrinogen, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. The hypertensive patients presented higher mean values of microalbuminuria than the normotensive ones (3.2 +/- 3.8 and 2.8 +/- 4.4 mg %, respectively), but the difference was again not significant (t = 0.25; p = 0.8). In the light of this research microalbuminuria seems to be a condition associated with atherosclerotic vascular disease, independently from the presence of diabetes mellitus and arterial hypertension.