Vol.3, No.3, 145-149 (2013) Journal of Diabetes Mellitus http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jdm.2013.33022 Prevalence of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes patients in Tirana, a preliminary multicenter study Nevi Pasko 1* , Florian Toti 2 , Ervin Zekollari 1 , Arjana Strakosha 1 , Viola Kacori 1 , Nestor Thereska 1 1 Department of Nephrology Dialysis and Transplant, University Hospital Center, Tirana, Albania; * Corresponding Author: nevipasko@hotmail.com 2 Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital Center, Tirana, Albania Received 29 May 2013; revised 30 June 2013; accepted 7 July 2013 Copyright © 2013 Nevi Pasko et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Background: Microalbuminuria is often the first sign of renal involvement predicting overt ne- phropathy. For this reason, monitoring micro- albuminuria and other risk factors associated with this condition is important to take measures to prevent or postpone overt nephropathy. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes patients attending three diabetes centers in Tirana city. Patients and Methods: Two hundred and twenty patients with type 2 diabetes attending diabetes centers in Tirana were recruited in this cross- sectional study. Medical records were used to collect data on duration of diabetes, waist cir- cumference, history of hypertension, smok- ing. Blood samples were drawn after 12 h over- night fasting to measure glycosylated hemoglo- bin (HbA1c), serum cholesterol, triglyceride and creatinine. Microalbuminuria was assessed us- ing dipstick kits in early morning urine samples. Results: The prevalence of normoalbuminuria was 58.3%, microalbuminuria 38.6% and macro- albuminuria 3.1%. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p < 0.01), HbA1c (p < 0.01) and fast- ing plasma glucose (p < 0.001) were signifi- cantly higher in microalbuminuric than in nor- moalbuminuric subjects. Multiple logistic re- gression analysis using microalbuminuria as the dependent variable in males shows that inde- pendent risk factors for diabetes patients with microalbuminuria were duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure and waist circumference. We found that the OR for microalbuminuria be- came statistically significantly increased only at 16 years after the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. At this time, 43.7% of patients had microalbu- minuria. Conclusions: We found a high propor- tion of type 2 diabetes patients with microalbu- minuria which raises implications for health policy in Albania. This calls for early detection and good control of diabetes to reduce the bur- den of diabetic kidney disease in the future. Screening programs and optimized control of modifiable risk factors are needed to reduce the risk of diabetic nephropathy. Keywords: Microalbuminuria; Type 2 Diabetes; Epidemiology; Albania 1. INTRODUCTION Recent figures released by the International Diabetes Federation confirm the enormity of the diabetes epidemic and indicate that the number of patients with renal failure due to diabetes will continue to increase dramatically. Diabetic nephropathy it is also one of the most signifi- cant long-term complications in terms of morbidity and mortality for individual patients with diabetes. Several small and large scale trials in the United States, Canada and Europe have tried to evaluate the incidence and prevalence of diabetic nephropathy [1]. In United States diabetes is responsible for 30% - 40% of all end-stage renal disease (ESRD) cases. As in other developing countries, the prevalence of diabetes in Albania has in- creased rapidly [2] and as a consequence the number of patients with diabetic kidney disease is expected to greatly increase with important implications for health policy. According to the International Diabetes Federa- tion [3], in 2012 there were about 65,000 cases of diabe- tes in Albania (approximately 2.3% of the population). The Atlas forecasts that the prevalence rate will rise to Copyright © 2013 SciRes. OPEN ACCESS