RESUMEN
United Arab Emirates [UAE] has a high prevalence of Diabetes mellitus. While inflammation and oxidative stress are thought to play important roles in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, the role of the antioxidant system still remains unclear. To determine the total antioxidant status in type-2 diabetic patients with and without microalbuminuria. Type-2 diabetics, aged 25-65 years, without history of cardiovascular or renal disease, attending GMC Hospital Ajman, UAE were included in this study. Medical history, height, weight were taken and biochemical investigations performed on venous blood samples. Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio [ACR] was also measured. Data was entered into SPSS 19 software and analyzed using Pearson's and t-test for correlation and significance respectively. 82 type-2 diabetics included in the study. 76.8% were male and 73.2% were of middle-east ethnicity. Average age was 47 +/- 9.1 years. 79.2% were overweight. 58% had hypertension, 68.3% dyslipidemia and 53.6% family history of diabetes. Microalbuminuria [ACR 30-299 microg/mg], found in 17 diabetics, correlated weakly [r=0.32] but significantly [p < 0.05] with duration of diabetes. Serum total antioxidant status of diabetic patients [1.14 +/- 0.4 mmol/l] was significantly lower [p < 0.05] than in normal volunteers [1.35 +/- 0.08 mmol/l]. No difference was found between males and females. Diabetics with microalbuminuria had a higher total antioxidant status [1.24 +/- 0.62 mmol/l] than those without microalbuminuria [1.1 +/- 0.37 mmol/l]. However this difference was not found significant after adjusting for serum uric acid levels which were significantly higher [p < 0.01] in patients with microalbuminunia [5.98 +/- 1.71 mg/dl] compared to those without microalbuminuria [4.98 +/- 0.94]. Type-2 diabetics had significantly lower total antioxidant status compared to normal adults. Prevalence of microalbuminuria was 20.7% highlighting the need for screening all diabetics. Total antioxidant status in diabetics with microalbuminuria was found to be slightly higher probably due to the higher uric acid levels