OBJECTIVETo observe the effect of combined therapy with Bailing Capsule (BC) and benazepril on the levels of urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) and C-reactive protein (CRP) for exploring its protective effect on early diabetic nephropathy.

METHODSSixty patients with early diabetic nephropathy were randomly assigned to the control group treated by benazepril alone, and the treated group treated by BC and benazepril, and the treatment lasted for 16 weeks. The changes of UAER and CRP levels were measured to estimate the protective effect of the combined therapy.

RESULTSLevels of 24h urinary protein, UAER, CRP were (0.85 +/- 0.32) g/24 h, (83.34 +/- 38.27) microg/min, (2.67 +/- 1.72) mg/L before treatment in the control group, and (0.43 +/- 0.17) g/24 h, (71.22 +/- 31.12) microg/min, (1.05 +/- 0.78) mg/L after treatment and they were (0.87 +/- 0.31) g/24 h, (81.59 +/- 35.69) microg/min, (2.55 +/- 1.66) mg/L before treatment in treated group, and (0.25 +/- 0.29) g/24 h, (57.32 +/- 31.11) microg/min, (0.49 +/- 0.38) mg/L after treatment respectively, all of them decreased after treatment in both groups, showing significant differences as compared with those before treatment (P<0.05, P< 0.01), and the reduction in the treated group was more significant (P<0.01); meanwhile, levels of serum creatinine, fasting blood glucose and HbA1c had somewhat decrease, showing no statistical difference with those before treatment (P >0.05).

CONCLUSIONCombined use of BC and benazepril could significantly lower the UAER and CRP levels in patients with early diabetic nephropathy to alleviate the renal impairment, showing an effect better than that of using benazepril alone.