plasma ntprobnp is independently associated with albuminuria in type 2 diabetes objective the aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between plasma nh2terminal probrain natriuretic peptide ntprobnp levels and diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetic patientsmethods the records of 983 patients with type 2 diabetes hospitalized in the endocrinology and metabolism department of peking university peoples hospital between january 2009 and december 2012 were reviewed based on their urinary albumintocreatinine ratio uacr the subjects were divided into three groups those with normal micro and macroalbuminuria clinical manifestations and biochemical parameters including plasma ntprobnp concentrations were compared between the three groups the association between plasma ntprobnp levels and stages of diabetic nephropathy was also evaluated by ordinal and stepwise linear regression analysesresults the median plasma ntprobnp concentration in the 983 patients with type 2 diabetes was 603 pgml which is within the normal range of healthy subjects oneway anova analysis showed significant differences in plasma ntprobnp concentrations among the three groups p0000 ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that plasma ntprobnp concentration was an independent risk factor for advanced diabetic nephropathy odds ratio18795 ci 152229 p0000 plasma ntprobnp concentration was highly correlated with uacr r0421 p0000 and had an independently positive association with uacr by stepwise linear regression analysis p0000conclusion plasma ntprobnp levels correlated with the degree of diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes