Clinical Significance of Cystatin C Level in Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy

Objective To explore the relationship of cystatin C(Cys C) level changes with diabetic nephropathy.Methods Ninety-five patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus were divided into three groups according to the albuminuria content,28 cases in the normal albuminuria group,32 cases in the micro-albuminuria group,and 35 cases in the macro-albuminuria group.Thirty cases reveiving health examination were enrolled in the control group.Plasma Cys C,serum creatinine(Scr),urinary creatinine,24-hour urine micro-albuminuria(mALB) were detected in each group,and creatinine clearance rate(Ccr) was calculated.Results ① There was no significant difference in the Cys C level among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients of different age,gender,body mass index(BMI),or glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c)(P 0.05).② Plasma Cys C level and mALB level in the micro-albuminuria group and macro-albuminuria group were significantly higher than those in the normal albuminuria group and control group(P 0.05),and Scr,Ccr in the macro-albuminuria group were significantly higher than those in the other three groups(P 0.05).③ Cys C was positively correlated with mALB in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(P 0.05),and the correlation of Cys C with Ccr(r =-0.758) was superior to that of Scr with Ccr(r =-0.672).Conclusion Cys C is more sensitive to detect early renal function decline in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,which can be used as an index for predicting the severity of diabetic nephropathy.