The relationship between resting heart rate and new-onset microalbuminuria in people with type 2 diabetes: An eight-year follow-up study.

AIMS Microalbuminuria is an indicator of adverse cardiovascular events and chronic kidney disease. Studies have described an elevated resting heart rate as a risk factor for microalbuminuria in people with cardiovascular disease, but none have clarified its role in microalbuminuria development in people with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between resting heart rate and new-onset microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes. METHODS A total of 788 people from a glycemic control trial in Taiwan were enrolled. Microalbuminuria was defined as a fasting urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g in two consecutive urine tests. The resting heart rate and other covariates were measured at baseline. The quartile of resting heart rates, categorized as 80 beats/min, was used for analysis. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the association between resting heart rate and risk of microalbuminuria. RESULTS During the follow-up period, 244 people (31%) developed microalbuminuria. Those who developed microalbuminuria had a longer diabetes duration (median=3.0 vs. 2.0 years, p 80 beats/min (with hazard ratios (95%CI) of 2.05 (1.32, 3.18), 2.10 (1.32, 3.32), and 1.62 (1.01, 2.59), respectively) compared to resting heart rates <70 beats/min. An average increased risk of microalbuminuria for increment of 10 beats/min was about 24% among those with hypertension (with hazard ratios of 1.24 (1.05, 1.47) in the multivariable Cox model). CONCLUSIONS This prospective cohort study showed that resting heart rate may be an associative risk factor for developing microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes.