Glomerular Lesions and Urinary Albumin Excretion in Type I Diabetes without Overt Proteinuria

Since several studies have suggested that a slight increase in urinary albumin excretion (microalbuminuria) is predictive of nephropathy in patients with diabetes mellitus, we studied the relation of albumin excretion to renal structure in patients with insulin-dependent (Type I) diabetes. Renal biopsy specimens were evaluated with light- and electron-microscopical morphometric techniques in 48 patients who had had diabetes for 5 to 40 years and who excreted less than 200 mg of urinary albumin per 24 hours. Patients in Group I (n = 26) had normal urinary albumin excretion, creatinine clearance, and blood pressure; those in Group II (n = 10) had increased urinary albumin excretion but normal creatinine clearance and blood pressure; those in Group III (n = 12) had increased urinary albumin excretion and hypertension, decreased creatinine clearance, or both. Glomerular structure varied similarly, ranging from normal to abnormal in Groups I and II, but was consistently abnormal in Group III. The thickness of the glomerular basement membrane, the fractional volume of the mesangium, and the mesangial volume per glomerulus in Group III exceeded the corresponding values in the other groups significantly. Thus, microalbuminuria, when present with hypertension, decreased creatinine clearance, or both, indicates established abnormalities of glomerular structure. Normal albumin excretion, or microalbuminuria without these other functional abnormalities, does not accurately predict the severity of the underlying glomerular lesions in patients with Type I diabetes. CLINICALLY apparent diabetic renal disease, which includes overt proteinuria, hypertension, and a decreased glomerular filtration rate, develops in 30 to 40 percent of patients with Type I diabetes.^1,2 Albuminuria is an important indicator of renal dysfunction, and urinary albumin levels of more than 400 mg per 24 hours indicate the presence of advanced diabetic nephropathy.^3,4 Sensitive immunoassays^{5 6 7} have made it possible to measure the rates of urinary albumin excretion in patients without overt proteinuria. Mogensen⁸ and Viberti et al.⁹ have shown that microalbuminuria (elevated excretion of albumin not detectable by dipstick methods) commonly occurs early in Type I diabetes. Such…