Epidemiology of Diabetic Neuritis

Diabetic polyneuropathy is the most common neuropathy in developed countries. Prevalence is a function of disease duration, and a reasonable figure, based upon several large studies, is that approximately 50 percent of patients with diabetes will eventually develop neuropathy[1]. Epidemiologic studies of diabetic neuropathy have provided heterogeneous results, owing to different patient populations, definitions of neuropathy used, and methods of assessments. Prediabetes is also associated with neuropathy.11 In the San Luis Valley cohort,12 the prevalence of peripheral neuropathy in patients with diabetes was 25.8%, as compared to 11.2% in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 3.9% in control subjects. The Monitoring trends and determinants in CArdiovascular/Cooperative Research in the Region of Augsburg (MONICA/KORA)13 investigators found the prevalence of neuropathic pain to be 13.3% in patients with diabetes versus 8.7%, 4.2%, and 1.2% in subjects with IGT, impaired fasting glucose, and controls, respectively.