People with diabetes frequently develop damage to their kidneys. This is called diabetic kidney disease (DKD for short) and it can greatly increase the likelihood that a person with diabetes will experience early death or kidney failure requiring dialysis. One type of research that can help to reduce complications from diabetes is to develop new tests that more accurately predict worsening DKD. Such tests are called “predictive biomarkers”. A blood test to measure the level of the protein activin A has been found to give higher levels in people with DKD and could be a useful predictive biomarker. In this study, we will collect information about recent changes in kidney function and other complications from the medical records of 160 adults with diabetes who had a blood level of activin A measured as part of a research study between 2015 and 2018. We will then perform statistical analysis to find out whether the blood level of activin A at the time of the original research study could predict greater loss of kidney function, the need for dialysis or early death. We hypothesise that higher blood level of activin A is associated with higher risk for these bad outcomes in people with diabetes. If proven correct, this hypothesis could help us to design larger research studies to test how measuring blood level of activin A can benefit patients with diabetes by guiding their treatment for DKD at an early stage based on the predicted risk for bad outcomes.
