FREQUENCY OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY IN DIABETIC PATIENTS VISITING TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Background; The incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) have risen rapidly in the past few decades and have become an economic burden to the healthcare system in Pakistan, So this study was done to determine the frequency of diabetic nephropathy in diabetic patients visiting tertiary care hospital. Material and methods: One hundred eleven consecutive patients with diabetes mellitus presenting to diabetic OPD were included in this cross-sectional study. After brief history and previous medical record review, blood pressure readings were taken, 24hour urine and blood samples were obtained from study participants and were sent to Nishtar hospital lab, free of cost, for detection of albumin in urine sample, HbA1c and fasting blood sugar levels in blood sample. Statistical analysis was performed by entering data in SPSS version 20. Results; Among these 111 diabetic patients, 51 (45.9%) were male diabetic patients and 60 (54.1%) were female patients. Mean age of our study cases was 50.16 ± 6.43 years while mean duration of diabetes was 6.34 ± 2.64 years. Majority of patients 70 (63.1%) were untreated for the diabetes while only 41 (36.9%) had controlled diabetes. Mean fasting blood glucose level was found to be 206.62 ± 31.56 mg/dl. Of these patients, 20 (18%) had history of smoking while 80 (72.1%) had history of hypertension. Nephropathy was present in 30 (27%) of our study cases. Microalbuminurea was seen in 20 (18%) of our study cases while Macroalbuminurea was present in 10 (9%) of our study cases. Conclusion; In our study, very high frequencies of diabetic nephropathy have been observed. Diabetic Nephropathy was significantly associated with increasing age, prolonged disease duration, poor glycemic control, poor compliance with treatment and hypertension. Majority of the diabetic patients were having uncontrolled diabetes and poor compliance with the treatment which emphasizes towards well directed awareness campaigns among targeted population. Proper treatment and well controlled diabetes can help to decrease long term complications in such patients