The secondary objective is to determine the relationship between albumin excretion and changes between baseline and 3-4 years in: 1) additional measures of subclinical atherosclerosis, such as endothelial function and arterial stiffness; 2) CVD risk markers: hsCRP and ADMA; 3) arterial BP, blood lipids and lipoproteins; 4) GFR as assessed by SDMA, creatinine and cystatin C levels; 5) long-term outcomes with regard to incidence of DN and CVD. The gene discussed is ALB; the disease is atherosclerosis.