Association Between Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy And Other Diabetic Microvascular Complications In Type2Diabetic Mellitus

Objective：To investigate the possible association between diabetic peripheralneuropathy (DPN), nephropathy (DN), and retinopathy (DR).Methods：A retrospective analysis of clinical data was conducted in1324adultswith type2diabetes. The subjects were divided into DPN and diabeteswithout peripheral neuropathy (NDPN), DN and diabetes withoutnephropathy (NDN), DR and diabetes without retinopathy (NDR). Theestimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated. The clinical andbiochemical data were collected and analyzed. The correlations betweenDPN and DN, DR were assessed.Results:Compared with patients in NDPN, the age, diabetes duration, bloodpressure, the levels of fasting glucose, creatinine(Cr) and urinaryalbumin-to-creatinine ratio(UACR)(P<0.05) were higher in DPN. At the same time, the prevalence of DR, DN were higher, but the body mass index(BMI),low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and eGFR levels werelower (P<0.05) in DPN. The risk factors for DPN were age, duration ofdiabetes, DR and DN. Common risk factor identified for all the threemicrovascular complications of diabetes was duration of diabetes.Thesubjects were divided into different groups by eGFR and UACR. Comparedwith the higher eGFR group, the percentage of patients with neuropathysymptom/neuropathy signs increased (P<0.05)， and the motor nerveconduction velocity (MNCV) decreased (P<0.05) in the lower eGFR group.Additionally, the percentage of patients with neuropathy symptom/neuropathy signs increased (P<0.05)，and the MNCV decreased (P<0.05)with an elevation in UACR level. In addition, the percentage of patients withneuropathy symptom/neuropathy signs were higher，and the MNCV werelower in patients with DR than in NDR (P<0.05). But there was nodifference of sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV) among all groupsdescribed above (P>0.05). Moreover, a multivariate analysis showed thatDPN was significantly associated with DN, DR after adjusting for the othercovariables.Conclusions：In the patients with DPN, the level of UACR, and the prevalence ofDN and DR significantly increased. Additionally, the eGFR and MNCV decreased, and the percentage of patients with neuropathy symptom/neuropathy signs increased in patients with DN and DR. We concluded thatclose association between DPN and other microvascular complications ofdiabetes exists in type2diabetes.