Arterial Stiffness Is Associated With Incident Albuminuria and Decreased Glomerular Filtration Rate in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between aortic stiffness and incident albuminuria and the decline in estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We investigated 461 Japanese type 2 diabetic patients, comprising 199 women and 262 men, with a mean age of 59 ± 11 years. Patients were divided into two groups according to the median value of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), which was used to evaluate aortic stiffness. The end point was defined as the transition from normo- to microalbuminuria or micro- to macroalbuminuria. The Cox proportional hazard model was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% CI. The correlation between cf-PWV and rate of change in eGFR was also determined by linear regression analysis. RESULTS The baseline mean (± SD) cf-PWV was 9.6 ± 2.4 m/s. During a median follow-up period of 5.9 years (range 0.3-8.6), progression of albuminuria was observed in 85 patients. The 5-year cumulative incidence of the end point in patients with cf-PWV below and above the median was 8.5 and 19.4%, respectively (P = 0.002, log-rank test). cf-PWV was significantly associated with incident albuminuria (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.13-1.33, P < 0.001) by multivariate Cox regression analysis. A significant association between cf-PWV and annual change in eGFR was also suggested by multiple linear regression analysis (standardized estimate -0.095, P = 0.031). CONCLUSIONS Aortic stiffness is associated with incident albuminuria and the rate of decline in glomerular filtration rate in type 2 diabetic patients.