To test the hypothesis that a high plasma prorenin can be used as an early marker of microvascular complications in patients with diabetes mellitus plasma prorenin was measured in 44 patients with urinary albumin excretion between 30 and 300 mg/24 h (microalbuminuria) and 120 patients with urinary albumin excretion below 30 mg/24 h (normoalbuminuria). A high plasma prorenin was associated with diabetic retinopathy, particularly the proliferative type, serum creatinine and the 24 h urinary albumin excretion rate. Plasma prorenin was not correlated with age, duration of diabetes, glycosylated hemoglobin, blood glucose, and blood pressure. The association between elevated plasma prorenin and retinopathy remained significant after adjustment for serum creatinine and albumin excretion. Independent of the presence or absence of microalbuminuria, the mean plasma level of prorenin was not above normal in patients without retinopathy and was 2 to 3 times normal in patients with proliferative retinopathy. Thus retinopathy appears to be an important determinant of abnormally high plasma prorenin. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) was elevated in the patients with diabetes mellitus as compared to control subjects but the plasma levels of ACE in diabetics with normoalbuminuria was not significantly different from the group with microalbuminuria. Plasma prorenin was not associated with ACE. A plasma level of prorenin of 225 mU/L had a sensitivity of 0.84 and a specificity of 0.82 for detecting the presence of microalbuminuria.