Longitudinal association of glycemia and microalbuminuria: the Framingham Offspring Study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess current and long-term associations of glycemia with microalbuminuria, a marker of generalized endothelial injury. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We measured clinical characteristics, fasting plasma glucose, and the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) in 1,311 men and 1,518 women attending the sixth examination cycle (1995-1998) of the Framingham Offspring Study. After excluding participants with diabetes or cardiovascular disease (CVD) at the baseline examination (1971-1974), we used fasting glucose measured at baseline, examination 6, and at least two additional examinations from 1974 to 1995 in regression models to predict risk for microalbuminuria (UACR > or = 30 mg/g) associated with baseline, current, and 24-year time-integrated glycemia.
RESULTS: Microalbuminuria was present in 9.5% of men and 13.4% of women. Among men, age-adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) for microalbuminuria associated with each 0.28 mmol/l (5 mg/dl) increase in baseline, current, and time-integrated glucose levels were 1.12 (1.00-1.16), 1.08 (1.05-1.10), and 1.16 (1.11-1.21), respectively. These effects persisted after adjustment for systolic blood pressure and other confounders. Higher glucose levels also predicted incident diabetes and CVD. Mean time-integrated glucose levels were highest among men who developed both CVD and microalbuminuria (SE 6.82 +/- 0.16 mmol/l), intermediate among men with either condition (6.03 +/- 0.65 mmol/l), and lowest among men with neither condition (5.49 +/- 0.02 mmol/l; P < 0.001 for all pairwise comparisons). We observed similar associations in women.
CONCLUSIONS: Long-term hyperglycemia and subdiabetic glycemia increase risk for microalbuminuria. Microalbuminuria, type 2 diabetes, and CVD seem to arise together over the course of decades, consistent with the hypothesis that they share a common antecedent.