Survival, incidence, and predictors of diabetic neuropathy among type 2 diabetic patients in hospitals of Addis Ababa

Background Diabetic neuropathy is a very common complication of diabetes mellitus. Thus, measuring the incidence of diabetic neuropathy is a key element in tracking the progress of epidemics of diabetes mellitus and an indication of early accessibility for healthcare in terms of type 2 diabetic patients. Objective To assess survival, incidence, and predictors of diabetic neuropathy among type 2 diabetic patients in hospitals of Addis Ababa from June 25 to August 25, 2023. Methods An institutional-based retrospective follow-up study design was used among newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients at hospitals of Addis Ababa. A chart review tool that contains socio-demographic, clinical, and comorbidity characteristics, biochemical characteristics, and the status of type 2 patients was used. A cleaned data was exported from Epi-data manager 4.6 version to SPSS version 25 for analysis. Bivariate Cox regression analysis was done to identify predictors of diabetic neuropathy at a 95% confidence level. Result A total of 414 type 2 diabetic patients were included in the study. Of these, 97 (23.4%) developed diabetic neuropathy. Variables like having hypertension (AHR 11.25, 95% CI 3.73–33.93), anemia (AHR 4.18, 95% CI 1.78–9.82), high-density lipoprotein < 40 mg/dl (AHR 5.07, 95% CI 1.38–18.67), high creatinine level (AHR 14.67, 95% CI 4.27–50.40), diabetic retinopathy (AHR 4.32, 95% CI 1.32-14.18), and diabetic nephropathy (AHR 2.50, 95% CI 1.09–6.57) were associated with the incidence of diabetic neuropathy. The mean time to develop diabetic neuropathy was 4.94 years, CI (4.50–5.38), and the mean survival time was 6.61 years. Conclusion The incidence of diabetic neuropathy was high relative to other studies. Variables like having hypertension, anemia, high-density lipoprotein, high creatinine level, diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic nephropathy were predictors of diabetic neuropathy. The mean time to develop diabetic neuropathy was 5 years, with a survival mean time of 7 years.