Assessment of Vitamin D-Binding Protein and Early Prediction of Nephropathy in Type 2 Saudi Diabetic Patients

Figure 4

Multivariate analysis of the study participants. (a) Despite some mixing between groups, the study participants were clustered into four distinct groups: (1) one control group (red) which was mostly affected by high hemoglobin level, (2) diabetic without albuminuria (green) at the positive direction of axis 1 which was influenced by high fasting blood sugar levels, (3) diabetic microalbuminuria (blue), and (4) diabetic macroalbuminuria (pink) in the negative direction of axis 1 which was greatly affected by high level of uVDBP/Ucr, sVDBP, albumin/creatinine ratio, and HbA1c. (b) 3D ordination plot shows also separation between the controls (red) and other patient subgroups along axes 1 and 2. uVDBP was a potential factor contributing to this separation. (c) Two-way hierarchical cluster analysis shows clear cut between macroalbuminuria and the other 3 groups with 100% separation. However, the diabetic normoalbuminuria group shares some characteristics with the normal controls and microalbuminuria group.

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