ESPE Abstracts

Background: An increased urinary albumin excretion rate of 30 to 300 mg/24h (microalbuminuria) constitutes an early stage of nephropathy, especially when it becomes persistent. The main modifiable initiation and progression factors of diabetic nephropathy are hyperglycemia and hypertension. There is limited information on the burden of diabetic nephropathy in developing countries. To date there are no studies that show the magnitude of microalbuminuria in the pediatric population of Ethiopia with only very few in Africa. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with microalbuminuria among diabetic children and adolescents attending an outpatient clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Objective: This study determined the prevalence of microalbuminuria and associated factors among type 1 diabetic patients attending paediatric endocrinology follow up clinic (PEC) at Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital.

Methodology: This is a cross sectional hospital based descriptive study which was conducted among T1DM patients aged 11 years and above at the study period and had at least 2 years of diabetic duration. The children were consecutively recruited from paediatric endocrinology clinic between May 1, 2017 and July 30, 2017. Structured questionnaires were used to collect socio-demographic characteristics and information pertinent to diabetes. Spot urine was used to determine microalbuminuria using Combilyzer13 automated urine analysis machine. Retinopathy and neuropathy screening was done for all patients with microalbuminuria.

Results: A total of 120 T1DM children were recruited into this study. Sixty two (51.7%) were female. Mean age of participants was 14.3 ± 2.2 years. 67 children (55.8 %) had poor glycemic control. Thirteen children (10.8%) had persistent microalbuminuria. Prevalence of persistent microalbuminuria was noted to be significantly higher among children with poor glycemic control (P < 0.02). Those with and without persistent microalbuminuria did not differ significantly in age, age at onset of diabetes and diabetes duration.

Conclusion: This study highlights the difficulties of achieving good glycemic control and th early occurrence of persistent microalbuminuria in Ethiopian diabetic children.