Prevalence of peripheral neuropathy and associated pain in patients with diabetes mellitus: Evidence from a cross-sectional study.

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is the most common and troublesome complication of diabetes mellitus. It affects almost half the population with diabetes and worsens quality of life of the patient. This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy and associated pain in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted over a period of six months. Patient's ≥ 18 years with confirmed diagnosis of diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Patients with hypothyroidism, medical illness such as cancer, liver or renal disease, cervical or lumbar spondylosis, pregnant patients with diabetes and patients receiving any treatment that might influence nerve function (e.g., cytotoxic or antiepileptic agents) were excluded from the study. DPN was diagnosed using 10 g monofilament test. The S-LANSS questionnaire was used to assess the associated painful symptoms. Association was calculated using chi-square test. A p- value of ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. All the statistical analysis was performed using SPSS v22.

Result: The overall prevalence of DPN was found to be 28.85% from which 88% patients were found to have painful symptoms. A significant association of DPN was observed with the duration of diabetes ( = 0.004), poor glycaemic control ( = 0.03) and other diabetic complications such as nephropathy ( = 0.002). No association of neuropathy was found with retinopathy and hypertension. Duration of diabetes (>15 years), and HbA1c (>9%) was found to be positively associated the painful DPN.

Conclusion: The current study found a high prevalence of DPN and it was found to be significantly associated with duration of diabetes, poor glycaemic control and nephropathy.