Relation of asymmetrical dimethylarginine levels with renal outcomes in hypertensive patients with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus.

AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between high plasma ADMA levels, a biomarker of endothelial dysfunction, with the progression of albuminuria and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in hypertensive patients, with and without type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: We successfully contacted 213 of 644 patients who had been evaluated between 2004 and 2005 and for whom basal data were available. After the exclusion of 51 patients, 162 hypertensive patients who were free from albuminuria were stratified into the following 4 groups according to the presence of diabetes and plasma ADMA percentiles: general hypertensive patients with high levels of plasma ADMA (>P4 or ADMA > 0.61 µmol/L), general hypertensive patients with low levels of plasma ADMA (≤P4), diabetic hypertensive patients with high levels of plasma ADMA (>P4), and diabetic hypertensive patients with low levels of plasma ADMA (≤P4). RESULTS: The patients were prospectively evaluated over 5.8 years. High ADMA levels were associated with the progression of albuminuria in hypertensive patients, with and without type 2 diabetes. Major increases in the ADMA value during follow-up were associated with the progression of CKD, and direct correlations between ADMA changes and GFR changes were observed in the whole group and in the subgroup of diabetic patients. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that high plasma ADMA levels might be a biomarker of renal disease progression and might even be an early predictor of albuminuria and its progression to the late stages of renal disease in hypertensive and diabetic hypertensive patients.