The concomitants of raised blood sugar: studies in newly-detected hyperglycaemics: II. Urinary albumin excretion, blood pressure and their relation to blood sugar levels.

The albumin excretion rate following an oral glucose load was measured, using a sensitive radio-immunoassay method, in three groups drawn from the population of Bedford. The three groups – normal,borderline diabetic and diabetic – were classified by the level of the blood sugar 2 hours after the 50 -g glucose load. The degree of albumin excretion was positively correlated with the 2-hour blood sugar level, suggesting that hyperglycaemia may cause renal functional abnormality, which may be present at or before the time of diagnosis. In the diabetic group, only, the degree of albumin excretion was also positively correlated with the height of the blood pressure.