The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a nationally representative, cross-sectional survey that is currently conducted every 2 years by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics to examine disease prevalence and trends over time in noninstitutionalized U.S. civilian residents.
Diabetes-associated nephropathy is one of the two main causes of CKD. Diabetic nephropathy accounts for 30-40% of CKD and 44% of incident cases of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the United States (United States Renal Data System, 2017). Additionally, diabetes-related CKD is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality (Foley et al., 2005; Go, Chertow, Fan, McCulloch, & Hsu, 2004). Thus, assessing the burden of this risk factor is essential to CKD surveillance. The survey consists of a standardized in-home interview and a physical examination and blood and urine collection at a mobile examination center. Here we examined data from the 1999–2000, 2001–2002, 2003–2004, 2005–2006, 2007–2008, 2009–2010, 2011–2012, 2013–2014, 2015–2016, and 2017–March 2020 NHANES. Self-reported diabetes was defined by answer of “yes” to the question “have you ever been told by a doctor or other health professional that you have diabetes or sugar diabetes?” Glycohemoglobin, which was approved as a diagnostic test for diabetes in 2010 (American Diabetes Association, 2010), was measured in all participants.