title: The prevalence of diabetic distal sensory neuropathy in an English community.
abstract: The prevalence of lower limb neuropathy was determined in a known diabetic population. From a general population of 97,034 subjects, a total of 1150 diabetic patients were identified of whom 1077 (93.7%) were reviewed. Neuropathy was defined as symptoms plus one abnormal physical finding, or two abnormal physical findings. An age- and sex-matched non-diabetic control group of 480 individuals was also examined by the same single observer. The prevalence of neuropathy was 16.3 (95% CI 14.6-19.0)% in diabetic patients and 2.9 (95% CI 1.4-4.4)% in non-diabetic subjects, yielding a prevalence odds of 6.75 (95% CI 3.87-11.79), p less than 0.001. In Type 1 diabetes, the prevalence was 12.7 (95% CI 8.0-17.6)% and in Type 2 diabetes 17.2 (95% CI 15.9-18.5)%. After adjusting for age, the difference was not significant (odds ratio (OR) 1.60 (95% CI 0.95-2.76)). The prevalence of neuropathy increased with age in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Diabetic Medicine, Poole General Hospital, Dorset, UK.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gatling
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mullee
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hill
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population