OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine risk factors and prevalence of diabetic neuropathy (DN) among type II diabetic patients in Malaysian hospital setting.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: a observational prospective longitudinal follow up study design was selected, total no of respondents were 1077 type 2 diabetes mellitus outpatients recruited via attended the diabetes clinics at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) in Kelantan. The diagnosis of neuropathy was confirmed by nerve conduction studies. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the independent variables that affect the development of neuropathy.
RESULTS: The prevalence of nephropathy is 54.3%. Longitudinal logistic regression identified four predictive variables on the development and progression of diabetic neuropathy that are: duration of diabetes, retinopathy, HbA1c at second visit, and creatinine clearance third visit.
CONCLUSION: Findings of this study show high prevalence of diabetic neuropathy. HbA1c and creatinine clearance are two modifiable risk factors for the development of diabetic neuropathy.
Study site: Diabetes clinics, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM), Kelantan, Malaysia
BACKGROUND: The role of endothelial injury and circulating adhesion molecule in the development and progression of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in the long-term has been established previously.
AIMS: To study the effects of short-term glycemic control using insulin and oral hypoglycemic agent therapy (OHA) on the peroneal nerve function and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and advanced glycation endproducts (AGE) levels in type 2 diabetic patients.
SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A randomized controlled study involving poorly controlled (HbA1c, 7.5%-11%) type 2 diabetic patients attending the endocrinology outpatient center in a tertiary hospital in Kuala Lumpur.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-nine patients were randomized to receive insulin (n=15) or OHA (n=14) for 8 weeks. The glycemic variables (HbA1c, fasting plasma glucose [FPG], fructosamine), VCAM-1, serum AGE and the peroneal motor conduction velocity (PMCV) were measured at baseline and at 4-week intervals.
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Paired 't' test or Kruskal Wallis test; and the unpaired 't' test or Mann-Whitney U test were used for within-group and between-group analyses, respectively. Correlation was analyzed using Spearman's correlation coefficient.
RESULTS: Within-group analysis showed significant progressive improvement in HbA1c at weeks 4 and 8 in the insulin group. The PMCV improved significantly in both groups by week 8, and by week 4 (P = 0.01) in the insulin group. PMCV correlated negatively with VCAM-1 (P = 0.031) and AGE (P = 0.009) at week 8.
CONCLUSION: Aggressive glycemic control with insulin improves the peroneal nerve function within 4 weeks. Improvement in the serum VCAM-1 and AGE levels correlated significantly with improvement in peroneal nerve conduction velocity only in the insulin group.
Study site: Tertiary endocrinology outpatient center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia