Total bilirubin level may be a biomarker of nephropathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus

Recently, the number of the studies on the relationship between the total bilirubin level (TBL) and diabetic nephropathy (DN) is increasing, but their results were not consistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to analyze the relationship between TBL and the risk of DN. We searched 5 databases before October 31, 2016, and reviewed the reference list of relevant articles. The fixed or random-effects model was used to pool risk estimates. We conducted the dose–response meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between TBL and the risk of DN. Our meta-analysis showed that TBL in the DN group was lower than that in diabetes without the kidney disease (NDN) group (standard mean difference [SMD]: −0.63, 95% CI: −0.80, −0.46). The result of each subgroup also showed that TBL in the DN group was lower than that in the NDN group. The result of meta-regression indicated that duration of diabetes mellitus might be the source of heterogeneity. Our meta-analysis also showed that there was a significant negative relationship between TBL and the risk of DN (OR: 0.86, 95%CI: 0.82, 0.90). The results of subgroup analysis were similar to those of SMD; no sources of heterogeneity were detected by meta-regression. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the results were robust. We observed a linear association between TBL and the risk of DN, and there was a negative dose–response association between TBL and the risk of DN. In conclusion, bilirubin may be used as a biomarker of DN. It helps early diagnosis and effective therapeutic strategies on DN.