Keywords
atherogenic index of plasma
eGFR
urinary albumin to creatinine ratio
Dyslipidemia
Biomarker
diabetes mellitus
How to Cite
Abstract
Objective: To assess AIP as an independent predictor of eGFR and a discriminating biomarker for DN, this study compared AIP and other measures among patients with nephropathy (DN), those without nephropathy (DM), and healthy controls (HC).
Methods: Following ethical approval, a comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The study enrolled 309 participants (103 DN, 103 DM, and 103 HC subjects). ANOVA/Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate anthropometric, metabolic (HbA1c, lipid profile, AIP), and renal parameters (urea, creatinine, eGFR, UACR). Spearman's rank test was used to evaluate the correlations. Multivariate linear regression models were constructed to identify the independent variables of eGFR and UACR. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to assess the discriminating capacity of AIP for DN.
Results: The mean AIP was substantially greater in the DN group [mean (SD): 0.339 (0.358)] than in the DM [-0.03 (0.25)] and HC [-0.11 (0.021)] groups (P < 0.001). AIP was significantly positively correlated with UACR (ρ = 0.370, p<0.001) and negatively correlated with eGFR (ρ = -0.491, p<0.001). After controlling covariates, AIP was a significant independent negative predictor of eGFR in the multivariate analysis (β = -0.091, P = 0.008). With an ideal threshold of -0.01 (sensitivity, 86.4% (89/103); specificity, 62.1% (128/206)), the ROC curve showed that AIP effectively distinguished DN from non-nephropathy participants (AUC = 0.828, P < 0.001).
Conclusions: AIP is an independent inverse predictor of renal function and markedly increased in diabetic nephropathy. It has a high degree of discriminating capacity for recognising DN, indicating that it may be useful as an easy-to-use, reasonably priced biomarker for risk assessment in patients with diabetes.
Keywords: Diabetic Nephropathies; Dyslipidemias; Glomerular Filtration Rate; Albuminuria; Biomarkers; Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
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