Variability of albumin excretion in insulin-dependent diabetics.

Sixteen adults patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and 16 healthy controls, matched for sex and age, were asked to collect their urine during the night and during the day at rest, at weekly intervals on four occasions. Subjects with heart failure, kidney disease, hypertension, abnormal urinalysis (Albustix positive) or poorly controlled diabetes prior to entry in the study, were excluded. A high variability in the albumin excretion rates (AER) was observed in both diabetic and control groups but the variance was significantly greater in diabetics. Moreover the variance in AER was higher in daytime as compared to overnight urine collections in both groups. Overnight urine collections are more precise than daytime urine collections for the determination of AER.