Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious, long-term condition that occurs when raised blood glucose levels persist because the body cannot produce any or adequate insulin or cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Microvascular complications of DM (which include diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy, diabetic microangiopathy, and diabetic neuropathy) are mainly associated with vascular permeability impairment that affects different tissues and organs of the body including the kidneys, retina and nerves. This research was aimed to establish the prevalence and associated clinical factors of microvascular complications in patients with type 2 DM in Kano, Nigeria. Total of 410 study participants were recruited using simple random sampling from males and females with type 2 DM attending diabetic clinics at Murtala Specialist Hospital, General Hospital Nasarawa and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano. The patients were examined for the presence of any of the diabetic complications using clinical examinations and Laboratory investigations. Microvascular complications were presented as frequencies. The association between the clinical parameters and the microvascular complications was analysed using Chi square analysis. The results show that, out of the total number of 410 study participants, 97 (23.66 %) have Diabetic Retinopathy, 57 (13.90 %) have Diabetic Nephropathy, 59 (14.39 %) have Diabetic Neuropathy, 82 (20.00 %) have multiple Microvascular Complications and 115 (28.05 %) presented with no microvascular complication. There was a significant association between microvascular complications and level of glycaemic control, Physical exercise, Blood pressure, classical signs and symptoms (p<0.05). There seem to be no significant association between family history of DM, BMI classes and frequency of microvascular complications of DM. There is a considerably a moderate prevalence of microvascular complications of DM among the patients with type 2 DM in Kano, Nigeria.
Keyword: Diabetes Mellitus, Microvascular Complications, Nephropathy, Retinopathy, Neuropathy