03/04/2016    

RESPONSES/COMMENTS (RESEARCH)

RE: Pre-diabetes and Peripheral Neuropathy: The Promise Cohort Study

From: Richard H. Mann, DPM

 

A recent study, Peripheral Neuropathy and Nerve Dysfunction in Individuals at High Risk for Type 2 Diabetes: The PROMISE Cohort, Diabetes Care 2015;38:793–800, from a team of Canadian researchers, found that the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in newly diagnosed diabetics and pre-diabetics was virtually the same, 50% and 49% respectively. They concluded that pre-diabetes is an independent risk factor for peripheral neuropathy and that peripheral neuropathy begins in the early stages of diabetic pathogenesis.

 

The study confirms that risk factors for diabetic neuropathy, such as age, height, and glycemia, are associated with peripheral neuropathy, even in the absence of a clinical diagnosis of diabetes. They conclude that these results support efforts toward early detection and intervention as a means to reduce the incidence of peripheral neuropathy and its downstream consequences in high-risk populations.

 

Those of my colleagues treating patients with a polyneuropathy of unknown etiology would do well to consider these findings in their clinical work-up and evaluation of these patients. 

 

Richard H. Mann, DPM, Boca Raton, FL