Diabetic neuropathy in children

Abstract

The worldwide burden of diabetes and its complications in children continues to increase due to the rise in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Although overt diabetic neuropathy is rarely present in children and adolescents with diabetes, subclinical diabetic neuropathy has been estimated to occur in approximately half of all children with type 1 diabetes with a duration of 5 years or longer and up to 25% of pediatric patients with newly diagnosed diabetes have abnormal findings on nerve conduction studies. The present review on the state of pediatric diabetic neuropathy covers the definition, prevalence, pathogenesis, diagnosis, risk factors, and possible treatment approaches specific to children and adolescents with diabetes. It also highlights the many unknowns in this field. Nonetheless, new emerging interventions that can either prevent or delay the progression of diabetic microvascular and macrovascular complications may become available in the near future. Until specific interventions for diabetic neuropathy are available for use in children, it will be hard to justify screening for neuropathy other than through clinical assessment. Meanwhile, the search for quicker, easily administered, and quantifiable tests for diabetic neuropathy and efforts to establish valid pediatric norms for well-established measures used in adults will need to continue.

Keywords: Diabetes; children and adolescents; chronic complications; diabetic neuropathy; diagnosis; pathophysiology; prevalence; treatment.