Objective To investigate the efficacy of lipoic acid combined with Shenkang Injection in the treatment of early diabetic kidney disease(DKD)and its effect on inflammation.Methods A total of 97 patients with early DKD ad-mitted to Liuzhou Municipal Liutie Central Hospital from June 2020 to December 2021 were selected as the research objects.According to different treatment methods,the patients were divided into group A(34 cases,lipoic acid,Shenk-ang combined with irbesartan),group B(33 cases,Shenkang combined with irbesartan)and control group C(30 cases,irbesartan).All patients were treated for 2 weeks.The clinical efficacy,urinary albumin/creatinine(UACR),serum cre-atinine(Scr),blood urea nitrogen(BUN),estimated glomerular filtration rate(eGFR),high-sensitivity C-reactive pro-tein(hs-CRP),fasting plasma glucose and incidence of adverse reactions were compared among the three groups.Results The total effective rate of group A and group B was significantly higher than that of group C,and the total ef-fective rate of group A was higher than that of group B and the differences were statistically significant(both P<0.05).After treatment,compared with group C,the levels of UACR in group A and group B were decreased,and group A was lower than group B,the differences were statistically significant(both P<0.05).After treatment,Scr and hs-CRP in group A were significantly lower,and eGFR was increased significantly than those in group B and group C,and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05).There was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse reactions among the three groups(P>0.05).Conclusion Lipoic acid combined with Shenkang and irbesartan in the treatment of early DKD can inhibit the release of inflammatory factors,thus delaying DKD and protecting the kidney.