The impact of microalbuminuria and insulin resistance as prognostic biomarker for nephropathy in obese persons: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: The progression of weight gain over the normal level is accompanied by an increase in renovascular damage markers, such as microalbuminuria. Microalbuminuria could be an indication of vascular disturbances caused by obesity. The global pandemic of renal disease has something to do with the link between obesity and type-2 diabetes. Furthermore, microalbuminuria can also be a possible factor for developing insulin resistance syndrome and high blood pressure. The goal of this research is to analyze the impact that insulin resistance, as well as microalbuminuria, play in predicting the severity of nephropathy among obese individuals and also look into these markers in identifying patients with this condition. Methods: The selected studies (updated to November 2022) were evaluated using the Electronic PubMed database. Based on our selection criteria only those that included high-quality investigations on the relevance of insulin resistance and microalbuminuria as markers of nephropathy in obese people were included. We evaluated this link using odds ratios with a confidence interval of 95%. Results: Overall, 15 studies, including over 10,000 obese individuals, were evaluated for this study. The summative results revealed that microalbuminuria and insulin may be strong indicators for the advancement of nephropathy in individuals with diabetes mellitus and obese individuals. In support of this, more studies need to be carried out on obese individuals with nephropathy in the absence of diabetes to confirm the relevance of these biomarkers as a prevention measure. Conclusions: Understanding the importance of the impact microalbuminuria and resistance to insulin play as biomarkers in the health of obese individuals may be very important to prevent nephropathy progression and premature death in both diagnosed and undiagnosed situations. A limitation of this review is that it didn't focus on other anomalies related to obesity such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes.