Observational studyFrontiers in endocrinology2026
Diagnostic value of tubular and glomerular biomarkers across different stages of kidney injury in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
Observational study in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains a major cause of chronic kidney disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), yet conventional markers incompletely capture heterogeneous renal injury. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance and stage-wise behavior of clinically accessible urinary glomerular and tubular biomarkers for identifying DN. Methods: This multicenter retrospective observational study enrolled 320 hospitalized patients with T2DM, including 160 patients with DN and 160 age- and sex-matched controls without nephropathy. Kidney function was stratified by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) categories G1 to G5. Urinary glomerular and tubular biomarkers were compared between groups and across stages. Receiver operating characteristic analysis, multivariable logistic regression, DeLong testing, calibration assessment, bootstrap internal validation, subgroup analysis, and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: Both glomerular and tubular biomarkers were significantly elevated in DN, with separation from controls evident even in G1. Urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) showed the highest single-marker discrimination for DN (area under the curve 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.90 to 0.96), followed by urinary albumin (0.91, 0.88 to 0.94) and urinary β2-microglobulin (0.88, 0.84 to 0.92). For stage discrimination, urinary β2-microglobulin performed best (area under the curve 0.85, 95% confidence interval 0.79 to 0.91). A combined model incorporating UACR, urinary β2-microglobulin, and urinary N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase improved discrimination versus UACR alone (area under the curve 0.96 vs 0.93; DeLong Z = 2.74, P = 0.006), with good calibration and stable performance after bootstrap validation and sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: Clinically available urinary tubular and glomerular biomarkers distinguish DN from matched T2DM controls across Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) eGFR stages, including preserved eGFR. Integrating tubular injury markers with UACR significantly enhances diagnostic performance beyond UACR alone.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.