Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and abdominal obesity and the development of microalbuminuria in patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND The hyperlipidemia syndrome (also called syndrome X or the deadly quartet) is a recognized constellation known to increase cardiovascular mortality, but its effect on renal decline is not well-described. This study examined the differential effects of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and abdominal obesity on overnight urinary albumin excretion ratios (UAERs) among patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), who by definition possess the remaining component of the syndrome, insulin resistance. METHODS We conducted a survey of 317 primary care NIDDM patients measuring waist-to-hip ratios, fasting lipid levels and glycemic values, and overnight UAERs. The study was carried out between January 1989 and June 1991. RESULTS Using logistic regression controlling for age, race, sex, duration of NIDDM, and smoking status, elevated glycosylated hemoglobin (odds ratio [OR] = 1.95, 95 percent confidence interval [CI] = 1.16-3.27) or the addition of one component of the deadly quartet to pure diabetes doubled or tripled the odds of an elevated UAER (NIDDM plus obesity OR = 2.00, 95 percent CI = 1.02-3.93; NIDDM plus hypertension OR = 3.45, 95 percent CI = 1.38-8.63; NIDDM plus hyperlipidemia OR = 1.60, 95 percent CI = 0.53-4.81). In a dose-response manner, two additional factors exerted additive effects; all three additional factors combined with pure NIDDM multiplied the effect, with an odds ratio of 9.34 (95 percent CI = 2.24-38.9). CONCLUSIONS These data quantify the incremental effects of abdominal obesity, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia on abnormal UAERs among NIDDM patients and strongly suggest the need for aggressive and simultaneous correction of multiple risk factors to prevent end organ damage in this population.