ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Clinical Diabetes
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1647064
This article is part of the Research TopicHighlights in Diabetes NephropathyView all 21 articles
Epidemiological research on diabetic nephropathy at global, regional, and national levels from 1990 to 2021: an analysis derived from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study
Provisionally accepted
- Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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Objective: A comprehensive assessment of the disease burden is essential for developing effective strategies to address diabetic nephropathy. This study investigates the long-term global trends and epidemiological characteristics of diabetic nephropathy. Methods: Data on diabetic nephropathy from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 were utilized to evaluate morbidity, mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and the impact of the Socio-Demographic Index (SDI). Global risk attribution was assessed, and the Bayesian Age-Period-Cohort (BAPC) model was applied to forecast the future burden of diabetic nephropathy. Results: In 2021, there were 107.6 million prevalent cases of diabetic nephropathy globally (95% UI: 99.2-116.0), with an age-standardized prevalence rate of 1,259.6 per 100,000 population (95% UI: 1,162.0-1,359.9), representing a 5.1% decline since 1990. Global deaths attributed to diabetic nephropathy in 2021 reached 477.3 thousand (95% UI: 401.5-566.0), with an age-standardized mortality rate of 5.7 per 100,000 (95% UI: 4.8-6.8), reflecting a 37.8% increase since 1990. The number of DALYs attributable to diabetic nephropathy was 11,278.9 thousand (95% UI: 9,682.8-13,103.9), with an age-standardized DALY rate of 131.1 per 100,000 (95% UI: 112.8-152.5), indicating a 24% rise since 1990. Conclusions: Over the past three decades, the global age-standardized prevalence of diabetic nephropathy has declined, while age-standardized mortality and DALY rates have increased. Significant disparities exist in prevalence, incidence, and DALY rates across regions and countries. The SDI exerts a notable influence on diabetic nephropathy prevalence, underscoring the importance of sustained and enhanced management of risk factors to prevent and treat this condition. Diabetic nephropathy remains a critical global health challenge moving forward.
Keywords: diabetic nephropathy, Global disease burden, Epidemiology, GBD2021, Forecasting
Received: 14 Jun 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Jiang, Xu, Zhang, Zhang and Yue. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lu Zhang, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
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