Environmental exposure to lead and progressive diabetic nephropathy in patients with type II diabetes

Studies indicate that environmental exposure to lead is associated with reduced renal function. Whether lead affects progressive diabetic nephropathy is unclear. Eighty-seven patients with type II diabetes and diabetic nephropathy (serum creatinine of 1.5–3.9 mg/dl) with normal body lead burden and no lead exposure history were observed over a 12-month period. Thirty subjects with high normal body lead burdens (80–600 μg) were randomly assigned to a chelation and control group. For 3 months, the 15 chelation-group patients underwent lead-chelation therapy with calcium disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid weekly until body lead burden fell