ABSTRACT
Giovanni Gambaro, Monica Ceol, and Augusto Antonello Division of Nephrology, Dept. of Medical and Surgical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
It is well known that diabetic patients are at increased risk of vascular disease, and that atherosclerosis is their main cause of death. Also, patients with diabetic nephropathy have an even higher risk of cardiovascular mortality. In a 10 year follow-up study, 15% of IDDM patients with normoalbuminuria, 25% with microalbuminuria and 44% with overt nephropathy died due to cardiovascular causes [1]. Indeed, several retrospective and prospective studies have demonstrated that micro-and macroalbuminuria predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in diabetes mellitus [2].
