The following symptoms and complaints may indicate diabetic nephropathy, although the early stages of the disease are asymptomatic, that is, without symptoms:
Leading symptoms
- Microalbuminuria – refers to the excretion of protein (essentially albumin) in the urine, ranging from 20 to 200 mg in morning urine or 30 to 300 mg/day in 24-hour collected urine [early stage].
- Hypertension [early stage: already increase in blood pressure, if any].
- Gradual decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR, glomerular filtration rate).
- Occurrence of comorbidities such as dyslipoproteinemia, edema.
Caution. Diabetic nephropathy is virtually always accompanied by diabetic neuropathy and/or retinopathy.
