Alterations in Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein-1 and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin Levels in Type 1 Diabetic Adolescents With Microalbuminuria

Puberty is considered a critical period for the development of microvascular complications of diabetes. Recently, we documented that more pronounced progression of albuminuria occurs during puberty than before or after puberty (1). This supports the concept that endocrine changes of puberty can lead to early initiation or acceleration of diabetic kidney damage. Therefore, we attempted to investigate the relationship between incipient nephropathy and pubertal hormones in adolescents with diabetes.

A total of 26 type 1 diabetic patients were selected for this study. Subjects were classified into two groups according to the presence of incipient nephropathy: patients with persistent microalbuminuria (5 boys and 5 girls, albumin excretion rate [AER] 20 μg/min three times within 3 months, age 14.4 ± 3.0 years, diabetes duration 6.2 ± 2.5 year, and mean HbA_1c 8.4 ± 8.4%) and patients with normoalbuminuria (8 boys and …