Clinical Study of Urine Albumin Creatinine Ratio as an Earlier Predictor of Diabetic Nephropathy

BACKGROUNDDiabetic nephropathy (DN) is a chronic microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus (DM).Microalbuminuria is an earliest marker of DN.Effective screening measures are required for early diagnosis and management to halt the progression of diabetic nephropathy.We wanted to evaluate urine Albumin Creatinine Ratio (ACR) as an earlier predictor of diabetic nephropathy in comparison to the gold standard test 24-hours urine protein. METHODSThis is a cross sectional study conducted among 210 patients of type-2 DM admitted in the medical ward of a tertiary care hospital, who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria.Relevant history including duration of DM, and other comorbidities was taken from the patients.Vital parameters such as heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure were recorded.CBC, RFT, FBS, PPBS, HbA1c, Fundoscopy were done in all patients.Urine analysis for ACR from random urine sample and 24-hours urine protein from 24-hour urine sample were done. RESULTSProteinuria was present in 80.95% of patients and that with 24-hour urinary protein, in 59.04% patients.ACR showed sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 46.51% with PPV of 72.94% and NPV of 100%.ACR has strong positive correlation with 24hours urinary protein.Positive correlation of urine ACR was seen with serum creatinine, blood urea, HbA1c, anaemia, duration of diabetes and the presence of diabetic retinopathy. CONCLUSIONSACR shows high sensitivity in the detection of proteinuria, especially microalbuminuria and hence can be considered as an alternative to 24-hour urine protein in an early screening for DN.