The natural history of diabetic nephropathy

Diabetic nephropathy is now the most common cause of ESRD in the US, and no other complication of diabetes is associated with more deaths. In addition to its impact on morbidity and mortality, it extracts a tremendous cost from the health-care economy. Prevention and better treatment of diabetic renal disease should be a high priority for both the health-care system and society at large. Ultimately, diabetic nephropathy should be preventable, but that goal can be accomplished only by the coordinated efforts between investigators, who work to uncover pathophysiologic processes and design new treatments, and clinicians, who take those findings to the patient's bedside.