Approved Research

Defining Phenotypes in Diabetic Kidney Disease.

Lay summary

The number of people world wide with Type 2 Diabetes is increasing, with approximately 700 million people expected to have Type 2 Diabetes by 2045. Type 2 diabetes is associated with a large number of associated healthcare problems related to the effect of long term poorly controlled blood sugars on different body organs including the eyes, heart and kidney. Type 2 Diabetes is the commonest cause of kidney disease worldwide, with a large number of patients subseqeuntly developing kidney failure and a larger number subsequently developing heart disease. It is now recognised that Diabetes related Kidney Disease affects different groups of patients at different speeds and in different ways. It is now also accepted that Diabetes related Kidney disease may consist of different sub-groups  which may require different treatment approaches. In identifying these different groups, we should be able to identify personalised targeted therapies for people with this potentially devastating disease. We have previously identified 4 different clinical subgroups amongst patients with long term kidney disease related to diabetes as well as other causes. In this study, utilising clinical data from the UK biobank, we aim to validate the results of our published preliminary study, with the overall aim remaining to determine whether clinical variables may identify different subgroups in patients with Diabetic Kidney Disease, to facilitate further study of underlying mechanisms of diabetes related kidney disease and the development of personalised targeted therapies for people with this potentially devastating disease.