For many years, diabetic neuropathy has remained one of the most puzzling aspects of diabetes mellitus.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factors influencing n diabetic neuropathy as well as the value of peripheral nerve conduction study in diagnosing diabetic neuropathy.
Our study was bases on 95 cases of diabetes mellitus that were admitted to Wonju Christian Hospital and received electrodiagnostic examination.
The summary of results was as follows:
1) Of the 95 cases of diabetes mellitus, 52(54.7%) cases were diagnosed as diabetic neuropathy.
2) Mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 89.40±69.59 months in the neuropathy group and 32.83±42.12 months in the non-neuropathy group. Statistically the difference was highly significant(p<0.001).
3) Diabetic neuropathy significantly increases as the levels of HbA1c, AC and PC2hrs also increased(p<0.05).
4) In the diabetic neuropathy group, the most frequently involved nerve among sensory nerve fibers was the sural nerve(77%), and the median nerve(71%) was the most frequently involved nerve among motor fibers.
5) The abnormality of H-reflex was 41 cases(43.2%) in the neuropathy group, and was 5 cases(5.3%) in the non-neuropathy group, which had a very significant difference from each other(p<0.001).
According to these results, we concluded that the long duration of diabetes mellitus as well as high levels of HbA1c and blood glucose were highly related with diabetic neuropathy, and also concluded that the nerve conduction study including H-reflex was a useful method for early detection of diabetic neuropathy.
