title: Prevalence of Diabetes and Diabetic Neuropathy in Qena Governorate: Population-Based Survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  No previous study was done to estimate the prevalence of diabetic neuropathy (DN) in Arabic countries. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of DN and its characteristics in Qena governorate.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a random sampling of 10 study areas, involving 9,303 inhabitants; 51.1% men and 48.9% women were recruited. There were 57.3% urban residents and 42.7% rural residents. Patients were diagnosed using a screening questionnaire for diabetes mellitus (DM) as well as for DN in addition to measuring blood sugar in suspected cases. All positive cases were referred to Qena University Hospital and were subjected to full clinical, electrophysiological and laboratory investigations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 9,303 people screened, 837 were diabetic giving prevalence 8.99% of the population. Eight hundred eleven had type II DM and 26 cases had type I giving prevalence of 8.7 and 0.3%, respectively. One hundred fifty-five out of 837 (18.5%) diabetic patients had evidence of DN with prevalence rate being 1.7% of the total population. Diabetic polyneuropathy was the commonest type with prevalence 1.5%. The prevalence of DN was higher in women than in men. Rural residents had significantly higher prevalence of DN compared to urban residents (1.9 vs. 1.4) and illiterate population more than educated (5.8 vs. 1.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The overall crude prevalence rate of DM and DN is nearly the same as in European countries and lower than that in other Arabic countries.
authors: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt.
authors: Eman M
authors: EM
authors: Khedr
authors: Gharib
authors: G
authors: Fawi
authors: Mohammed Abd
authors: MA
authors: Allah Abbas
authors: Noha Abo
authors: NA
authors: El-Fetoh
authors: Ghada
authors: G
authors: Al Attar
authors: Ahmed F
authors: AF
authors: Zaki
authors: Ayman
authors: A
authors: Gamea
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D055815:Young Adult