PREVALENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY

Background: Diabetic nephropathy being the leading cause of kidney transplant also affects major vital organs of the body. It increases the risk of mortality in diabetic patients along with hypertension, cardiopathy and other concurrent diseases. The main aim of study was to observe management and prevalence of nephropathy among the diabetic patients. Methods: An observational study was conducted during August-2016 to September- 2016 in different hospitals of Lahore. 50 patients of diabetic nephropathy were randomly selected and data was collected by filling questionnaires from patients. Collected data was analyzed and results were presented in the form of graphs and tables. Results: Results showed that the prevalence of diabetic nephropathy depends on socioeconomic background of the patients, as 42% of the patients were unemployed, 40% smokers, with a family history of diabetes type-II. The medications prescribed mostly consist of antihypertensives, antidiabetics and 70% of ACE inhibitors and Angiotensin-II. 88% of the patients found ACE inhibitors more beneficial than their previous medications as they had very few side effects, and 60% patients had HbA1c value in range due to use of regular medication. 56% of patients used tablets while 43% used injections. Conclusion: It was concluded that prescriptions of nephropathy patients indicated more ACE inhibitors. NSAIDs should be avoided in nephropathy as they increase GFR rate and affect kidney badly. Keywords: Diabetic nephropathy, End-Stage-Renal-Disease, Hypertension, ACE inhibitors, Urine protein, GFR.