Prevalence of Diabetic Nephropathy and associated risk factors among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in Ramallah, Palestine

Aims: Albuminuria is an established marker for endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular risk in diabetes and prediabetes. So we aimed to explore the prevalence of albuminuria (microalbuminuria and macroalbuminuria) in patients with type2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in the Palestinian community and to determine the association between albuminuria and other health care and biochemical indicators. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at private health care center. A total of 550 diabetic patients aged 35 years and above with type 2 diabetes mellitus who attended the clinic from May 2017 through February 2018 were included. Socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were obtained from the medical records of patients. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, version 23). Results: Out of the 550 patients recruited, the mean age and duration of diabetes were 57.8 years and 9.5 years, respectively. Approximately 62% were being managed by oral hypoglycemic agents alone, 4.3% by insulin alone, 31.7% were on a combination of oral hypoglycemic agents and insulin and slightly less than 2% were on dietary measures alone. The mean value for HbA1c was 7.71%. The overall prevalence of albuminuria among participants was found to be 34.6%; microalbuminuria (29.3%) and macroalbuminuria (5.3%). Conclusion: Albuminuria is highly prevalent among Palestinian population with type 2 diabetes. This calls for early and universal screening of urinary albumin. There is also an urgent need for measures that target tight glycemic and optimal blood pressure control and the use of renin-angiotensin system blockade.