Hypercalciuria and hematuria in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

This study was undertaken to examine whether patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM) are hypercalciuric and whether there is a pathophysiologic relationship between urinary calcium excretion (UCE) and the degree of diabetic nephropathy. Although UCE did not parallel the increase of urinary albumin excretion rate (AER) and the presence of hematuria was not corrected with the degree of UCE, we confirmed that 36% of diabetic patients have hypercalciuria and that the prevalence of hypercalciuria is more frequent in diabetic patients with normo- or microalbuminuria than in the controls. In 6 months, the AER of two hypercalciuric patients increased. However, the blood pressure and HbA_1c of these two patients increased during the same 6 months. Therefore, it remains unclear whether hypercalciuria induced an increase in the AER of these patients.