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. 2016 Apr;40(2):263-70.
doi: 10.5535/arm.2016.40.2.263. Epub 2016 Apr 25.

Correlation Between the Severity of Diabetic Peripheral Polyneuropathy and Glycosylated Hemoglobin Levels: A Quantitative Study

Won-Jae Lee  1 , Sol Jang  1 , Seung-Hwa Lee  1 , Hyun-Seok Lee  1
Affiliations

Correlation Between the Severity of Diabetic Peripheral Polyneuropathy and Glycosylated Hemoglobin Levels: A Quantitative Study

Won-Jae Lee et al. Ann Rehabil Med. 2016 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate risk factors for diabetic peripheral polyneuropathy and their correlation with the quantified severity of nerve dysfunction in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: A total of 187 diabetic patients with clinically suspected polyneuropathy (PN) were subclassified into 2 groups according to electrodiagnostic testing: a DM-PN group of 153 diabetic patients without electrophysiological abnormality and a DM+PN group of 34 diabetic patients with polyneuropathy. For all patients, age, sex, height, weight, duration of DM, and plasma glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level were comparatively investigated. A composite score was introduced to quantitatively analyze the results of the nerve conduction studies. Logistic regression analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to evaluate correlations between significant risk factors and severity of diabetic polyneuropathy.

Results: The DM+PN group showed a significantly higher HbA1c level and composite score, as compared with the DM-PN group. Increased HbA1c level and old age were significant predictive factors for polyneuropathy in diabetic patients (odds ratio=5.233 and 4.745, respectively). In the multiple linear regression model, HbA1c and age showed a significant positive association with composite score, in order (β=1.560 and 0.253, respectively).

Conclusion: Increased HbA1c level indicative of a state of chronic hyperglycemia was a risk factor for polyneuropathy in diabetic patients and a quantitative measure of its severity.

Keywords: Diabetic polyneuropathy; Electrodiagnosis; Glycosylated hemoglobin A.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. Difference of distributional patterns for HbA1c (orange) and age (gray) with composite score were observed through a scatter plot.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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