Prevalence of diabetic nephropathy in the diabetes mellitus population: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease worldwide, placing enormous pressure on healthcare systems and creating a heavy socioeconomic burden. It is urgent to comprehensively study the epidemiological characteristics of DN in diabetic patients and to analyze the related factors to its incidence in order to implement effective prevention and control measures. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Computer-aided searches of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases will be performed for prospective cohort studies reporting the prevalence of DN in diabetic populations. Studies will be pooled using a generalized linear mixed model, and a single proportion of included studies will be calculated to derive the overall incidence of DN in the diabetic population, and to analyze the effect of different factors on the incidence of DN. Publication bias will be assessed using a funnel plot combined with Begg test. Sensitivity analyses will be performed using the separation method, the exclusion of low-quality studies, and the trim and fill method. RESULTS: The primary outcome will be the prevalence of DN in the diabetic population; secondary outcomes will be the influence of factors such as age, gender, region, ethnicity, duration of diabetes, type of diabetes, baseline body mass index, baseline glycated hemoglobin level, baseline blood pressure, quality of included studies, and follow-up time on the prevalence of DN in diabetic patients. CONCLUSION: Through this systematic review and meta-analysis, the study will more comprehensively obtain the prevalence of DN in diabetic populations worldwide, and gain a deeper understanding of the differences in the prevalence of DN in diabetic populations with different characteristics, so as to provide evidence for the management of diabetes and the prevention of DN.