Increased Kidney Size in Diabetics

Roentgenographic Determinations

Abstract

Kidney sizes were studied in 36 normal and 71 diabetic subjects. The kidney size, “renal ratio”, was determined from measurements in the frontal plane using intravenous pyelograms according to the method of Simon. The ratio varied between 2.68 and 3.49 in normal subjects. The mean ± SD was 3.11 ± 0.22. The ratio was not correlated with age, height, body weight, glomerular filtration rate or renal plasma flow.
In diabetics, the mean renal ratio ± SD was 3.40 ± 0.29. This represented a significant increase compared with normal subjects (p<0.001). The increment in the ratio in diabetics was independent of age, duration of diabetes and degree of proteinuria. The ratio did not correlate with any renal function in the diabetics. However, the ratio in diabetics was positively correlated with the fasting blood sugar on admission: y (renal ratio) =O.001 x (blood glucose level in mg/dl) +3.19, r=0.312 (p<0.01).
The present study confirms that the renal ratio in diabetics was increased. It is considered that increment in the renal ratio provides a clue to the renal involvement in diabetes and that metabolic disturbance in diabetes may be responsible for such renal enlargement.