Background:
Increased iron reserves in the body have been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes, diabetic nephropathy, retinopathy, and vascular dysfunction. Serum ferritin has been related to the occurrence of CKD.
Aim of the study:
Aiming to look into the link between serum ferritin and proteinuria as a diabetic nephropathy marker in type 2 diabetic patients. subjects and methods: It involved 50 individuals of the same age and gender who were split into two groups: 25 type 2 diabetic patients with proteinuria and 25 apparently healthy volunteers (hospital personnel) with no history of diabetes who served as the control group. The Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELIZA) kit for quantitative detection of human serum ferritin was used to estimate serum ferritin.
Results:
In the current study, serum ferritin levels in diabetics with proteinuria showed a significant rise compared to the control group. (p < 0.001). In the comparative present study, the mean ± SD of diabetic patients with nephropathy, serum ferritin was 513.91±260.06 than that of control 133.42±186.66. The current study found a highly significant positive relationship between ferritin and 24h protein in diabetic patients with nephropathy(r=0.512, p=0.009), showing no significant positive association in the control group (r=0.02, p=0.94).
Conclusion:
serum ferritin can be considered an independent predicting marker of diabetic nephropathy as well as an excellent diagnostic marker for patients with clinical diabetic nephropathy.