Comparison of nerve conduction parameters in type 2 diabetic subjects: recently diagnosed versus chronic diabetes

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the major non-communicable diseases and may cause blindness, renal failure, and non-traumatic limb amputations in chronic condition. Periodic clinical assessment with supportive electrophysiological tests is highly recommended for early diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy in diabetic patients. Materials and Methods: In order to compare the nerve conduction study parameters on diabetes with two different durations of the disease, the recruited diabetic patients were divided into two groups, Group I - Recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes (within 1–2 years) and Group II -chronic diabetic patients with more than 5 years of disease. Nerve conduction study was done with RMS-EMG machine and latency, duration, and amplitude parameters of sural nerve conduction recordings were measured. The significance of study parameters between groups was analyzed by using independent sample “t” test. Results: There is no statistically significant change in the latency, amplitude, and conduction velocity of the sural nerve among the aforesaid study groups.