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The retinopathy-derived HbA1c threshold of 6.5% for type 2 diabetes also captures the risk of diabetic nephropathy in NHANES

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journal contribution
posted on 2022-07-19, 10:01 authored by Stephen AtkinStephen Atkin, Alexandra E Butler, Steven C Hunt, Eric S Kilpatrick

Aim: To determine if an HbA1c diagnostic threshold of less than 6.5% (<48 mmol/mol) could be identified based on a urinary albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR) of 30 mg/g or higher in subjects not known to have diabetes.

Methods: A UACR was measured for 20 158 participants in the 2011-2018 nationally representative cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES; cycles 7-10 inclusive).

Results: There was a significant trend for an increasing risk with a UACR of 30 mg/g or higher across increasing HbA1c categories (P < .0001). This trend was mainly attributable to the high prevalence of raised UACR in the 7.0% or higher HbA1c subgroup of subjects not previously diagnosed with diabetes. None of the odds ratios in the lower HbA1c subgroups versus the HbA1c subgroup of less than 5.0% reached significance. There were racial/ethnic differences in UACR risk (P < .0001), with White and Black subjects exhibiting little increased risk (vs. HbA1c <5.0%) until they reached an HbA1c of 7.0%, while Asian and Hispanic subjects showed some increased, but non-significant, risks at lower HbA1c levels. Maximizing the area under receiver operating characteristic curves from logistic regressions predicted an ideal HbA1c threshold of 5.8%, but there was little variation in area from 5.5% to 7.0%.

Conclusion: A clinically useful diagnostic threshold below 6.5% for HbA1c for elevated UACR risk was not identified, with an increased risk only obvious at an HbA1c of 7.0% or higher. Thus, the retinopathy-derived HbA1c threshold of 6.5% also captures the risk of diabetic nephropathy in NHANES.

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The original article is available at https://dom-pubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

Published Citation

Atkin SL, Butler AE, Hunt SC, Kilpatrick ES. The retinopathy-derived HbA1c threshold of 6.5% for type 2 diabetes also captures the risk of diabetic nephropathy in NHANES. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2021;23(9):2109-2115

Publication Date

25 May 2021

PubMed ID

34033191

Department/Unit

  • RCSI Bahrain

Publisher

Wiley

Version

  • Published Version (Version of Record)

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