Like this article?
Get your free daily medical news from Physician's First Watch.
Elevated Hemoglobin A1c Appears to Be an Independent Predictor of Kidney Disease in Patients with Diabetes
Diabetic patients with poor glycemic control may face increased risk for chronic kidney disease, even in the absence of albuminuria and retinopathy, reports Archives of Internal Medicine.
Nearly 1900 adults with diabetes underwent hemoglobin A1c measurements and then were followed for roughly 11 years, during which one fifth developed chronic kidney disease. After adjustment for cardiovascular and other risk factors, the odds of kidney disease rose significantly with increasing HbA1c concentration. For example, compared with HbA1c less than 6%, a concentration of 7%–8% conferred a 2.5-fold increase in risk, and a concentration of over 8%, a 3.7-fold increase.
HbA1c remained positively associated with kidney disease even among patients without albuminuria or retinopathy.
The authors conclude: "These data suggest that glycemic control is an important modifiable risk factor in the pathology of kidney disease in individuals with [diabetes], both in the presence and absence of other microvascular damage."
LINK(S):
Archives of Internal Medicine article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)
Published in Physician's First Watch December 9, 2008
Your Remark:
To ensure that your Reader Remark is not formatted as one long paragraph, precede new paragraphs with either a blank line or an indentation.