I am diabetic

Minor kidney damage in people with type 1 diabetes dramatically increases the chances of premature death, a new study finds.

Diabetics presenting early and asymptomatic kidney damage, as manifested by trace amounts of protein in the urine, were six times likelier to die than the general population, according to the study, summarized at ScienceDaily.com. When the diabetics’ kidneys functioned normally over time, they were died at the same rates as non-diabetic counterparts.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health carried out the study. They will present it at the upcoming annual Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

The study analyzed data from 658 men and women enrolled in a long-term prospective examination of childhood onset type 1 diabetes beginning in 1986. Participants were tested for levels of albumin, a protein flagging early kidney damage when elevated in the urine and that leads to a condition called microalbuminuria.

Over the next 20 years, 152 study participants with microalbuminuria had died — 6.2 times as many as the general population when controlled for age and gender.

The findings should motivate physicians to monitor diabetics’ kidney health even more closely, said lead study author Aaron Secrest.

Source: http://diabetesnewshound.com/type1/kidney-damage/

Tags: Damage, Heightens, Kidney, Mortality, Risk

This entry was posted on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 4:31 pm and is filed under Diabetes News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.