Serum sialic acid and microalbuminuria in non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Serum sialic acid, an acute phase reactant and urinary albumin excretion are found to be increased in various conditions like diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, cancer etc. In diabetes mellitus, acute phase reactants are considered as the indicators of microvascu-lar angiopathy. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to understand the potential association of serum sialic acid levels in diabetic process and to assess the correlation be-tween serum sialic acid concentration and microalbuminuria. 85 non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients were studied for their urinary albumin, serum sialic acid, fasting serum glucose and serum creatinine levels. Analysis was performed by catego-rizing them based on their albumin excretion (normoalbuminuric & microalbuminuric). 40 non-diabetic healthy subjects were chosen as a control group. Analysis showed 49 (57.6%) subjects had normoalbuminuria and 36 (42.3%) had microal-buminuria. Serum sialic acid concentrations found to be elevated in NIDDM (2.58 mmol/L) patients when compared to controls (1.95 mmol/L) and more so with microalbuminuric (2.77 mmol/L). There is a progressive rise in serum sialic acid levels with increase in urnary albumin excretion in NIDDM patients. Therefore, sialic acid can be of useful parameter to follow up the diabetic process