ABSTRACT
Objective To study the pathologic pattern and clinical feature of type 2 diabetes mellitus complicated with chronic kidney diseases (CKD). Methods Clinicopathological features of 155 type 2 diabetic patients complicated with CKD were collected and analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into four groups: typical diabetic glomerulopathy (DG),atypical diabetes-related renal disease (ADRD), non-diabetic renal diseases (NDRD) and DG complicated with NDRD. Results Renal biopsies revealed DG accounted for 18.7% of the patients, ADRD accounted for 12.9%, NDRD accounted for 60.0%, and DG complicated with NDRD accounted for 8.4%. In DG group, duration of type 2 diabetes was longer;the level of fast blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure and prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) were higher;proteinuria was heavier and evaluated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was lower. In ADRD group, body mass index and prevalence of obesity were higher;dyslipidemia was more severe. Gross hematuria and acute renal insufficiency could be only found in NDRD group.Without DR, duration of diabetes under 5 years, gross hematuria, acute renal insufficiency,evidences of autoimmune diseases and proteinuria≥3.5 g/24 h but eGFR ≥60 ml/min were specific valuable predictors for NDRD. Conclusions Renal injuries in type 2 diabetic patients are structural heterogeneous, in which NDRD is more common and is different from ADRD and DG.Renal biopsy should be considered when type 2 diabetic patients complicated with CKD present at least one characteristic as follows: duration of diabetes under 5 years, without DR, history of gross hematuria, acute decrease of renal function, evidences of autoimmune diseases and proteinuria ≥ 3.5 g/24 h but eGFR ≥ 60 ml/min.