Abstract: Objective To evaluate the correlation between the serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate-to-age ratio (DHEAS/AGE) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in the elderly male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods A total of 195 elderly male T2DM patients treated in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital from 2021 to 2023 were enrolled in the study. All patients were divided into DKD group and non-DKD group. The general information, serum DHEAS level, DHEAS/AGE were compared between the two groups. The relationship of DHEAS/AGE with metabolic parameters, renal function parameters, and the risk of DKD were analyzed by correlation analysis and unconditional Logistic regression analysis. Results DHEAS/AGE in DKD group was significantly lower than that in non-DKD group (P＜0.05). DHEAS/AGE was significantly negatively correlated with age, hypertension, urinary albumin creatinine ratio (UACR), and significantly positively correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (all P<0.05). All patients were divided into 4 groups according to DHEAS/AGE quartiles from low to high (Q1 to Q4), and the corresponding incidence rate of DKD was 41.7%, 20.8%, 28.0%, and 16.3% (P_trend<0.05), respectively. After adjusting the factors such as age, body mass index and hypertension, when compared with the Q1 group (reference, 1.00), the risk of patients with DKD in Q2, Q3 and Q4 groups were 0.267(0.097-0.732), 0.369(0.139-0.978) and 0.122(0.036-0.415)(P_trend<0.05), respectively. Conclusions DHEAS/AGE reduction is significantly correlated with an increased risk of DKD in the elderly male patients with T2DM.

Key words: type 2 diabetes mellitus, aged, diabetic kidney disease, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate-to-age ratio