Our longitudinal study of urinary albumin excretion rate in long-term insulin-dependent diabetics without proteinuria (negative albustix) suggests that early detection of patients at high and low risk of developing persistent proteinuria, i.e., diabetic nephropathy, is possible by using a sensitive method for albumin determination.
Our prospective studies in young insulin-dependent diabetics with diabetic nephropathy show that the rate of decline in giomerular filtration rate (GFR) varies considerably, with a mean of 0.75 ml/min/mo and a range from 0.1 to 1.50 ml/min/mo, and that an increase in arterial blood pressure to a hypertensive level is an early feature; 43% of the patients had diastolic blood pressure >100 mm Hg. Early and aggressive antihypertensive treatment reduces both albuminuria and the rate of decline in GFR in young patients with diabetic nephropathy.
