Microalbuminuria in systemic sclerosis.

A prospective study was performed to determine urinary albumin excretion in a group of 28 patients with systemic sclerosis. At the initial screen one patient had proteinuria and three had microalbuminuria. One year later these abnormalities persisted and in two of of the patients serum creatinine had significantly increased. In addition, a further three patients had developed microalbuminuria. In a control group of 10 patients with primary Raynaud's disease none had microalbuminuria. In a second control group of 16 patients with unrelated skin diseases one patient had microalbuminuria and one proteinuria, but both these patients had a history of hypertension. It is concluded that microalbuminuria is more common in patients with systemic sclerosis than in patients of equivalent age with other dermatological conditions but no vascular disease.