Interventions based on microalbuminuria screening and low-protein diet in the treatment of kidney disease of diabetes mellitus.

Microalbuminuria in insulin-dependent diabetics appears to indicate early renal damage rather than susceptibility to it, yet a series of relatively small, short-term intervention studies in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients have already demonstrated reduction in albumin excretion rates or arrest in the increase of fractional clearance of albumin. Treatments have ranged from the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors aimed at lowering BP to the use of diets restricted to 0.5 to 0.6 g/kg protein and strict blood glucose control by intensified insulin treatment. Large, long-term intervention studies of cohorts of insulin-dependent and non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients with microalbuminuria are now needed to assess the effects of the different modalities of care on the development of persistent proteinuria, end-stage renal disease, and cardiovascular mortality as well as associated quantitative changes in the renal structure.