Uric acid is an independent factor associated with endothelial dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria

Objective To study the relationship between uric acid and endothelial dysfunction in type 2 diabetic patients with or without microalbuminuria. Methods From March 2010 to May 2011, we recruited 149 cases of type 2 diabetic mellitus without macrovascular disease from 3 affiliated hospitals of Southern Medical University(Nanfang hospital, Jiangdu hospital, Zhujiang hospital). Patients were divided into two groups in term of the 24-h urinary microalbumin excretion rate:112 patients with 24-h urinary microalbumin excretion rateless than 30 mg was the DN (-) group, and 37 patients with 24-h urinary microalbumin excretion rate between 30 mg and 300 mg was the DN (+) group. 49 age- and gender-matched healthy people served as the control group. The demographic indexes, biochemical indexes, and the marker of endothelial dysfunction:soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1) were analyzed. Results Serum uric acid in DN(+) group was much higher than the other two groupDN (+) vs DN (-) vs health control=(370.3±116.1) μmol/L vs (334.2±100.0) μmol/L vs (324.5±63.7) μmol/L,P=0.083, sVCAM-1 level was significantly higher in DN (+) group than the other two groupsDN(+) vs DN (-) vs health control=(519.4±130.9) ng/ml vs (466.2±108.7) ng/ml vs (435.5±70.3) ng/ml, P=0.002, Multivariate regression analysis showed that serum uric acid was the only independent factor positively correlated to sVCAM-1 in DN (+) group (β=0.35, P=0.044), but this relationship was not significant in DN (-) group (β=0.052, P=0.593). Conclusions Serum uric acid was significantly higher in type 2 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria than that in healthy people, and significantly correlated to endothelial dysfunction, but this relationship was not significant in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients without microalbuminuria, suggesting that we should more strictly control of the uric acid level in type 2 diabetes patients with microalbuminuria.