Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a frequent complication of diabetes mellitus. The aim of our work is to determine the prevalence as well as the predictive factors of this degenerative complication and as a secondary endpoint the evaluation of the risk factors associated with painful diabetic neuropathy.

Methods: This is a retrospective and prospective cross-sectional study with descriptive and analytical aims conducted over a period of 4 years between January 2018 and October 2022 in the department of endocrinology and metabolic diseases of the Ibn Sina University Hospital in Rabat as well as the consultation center. Patients with type 1 diabetes with less than 5 years of evolution, secondary diabetes, and patients with gestational diabetes were excluded. Sociodemographic, clinical and biological parameters as well as degenerative complications were collected using a predefined questionnaire. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis were performed using JAMOVI 2.3.18 software. The significance threshold was set at the conventional value of 0.05.

Results: We included 250 diabetic patients, from which 207 were found to have type 2 diabetes mellitus. The mean age of our patients was 55.2 years ±14.8 years. The overall prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy was found to be 26.8% of. 71 patients (28.4%) were found to have painful diabetic neuropathy. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the factors significantly associated with diabetic peripheral neuropathy were: diabetes duration ≥10 years (OR= 7.42; IC95%: 1.49-36.83, P=0.01), and sedentary lifestyle (OR= 10.64; IC95%: 2.28-49.57; P=0.003). On the other hand, the factor significantly associated with neuropathic pain was: sedentary lifestyle (OR= 6.43; IC95%: 1.55-26.65, P=0.01).

Conclusion: Our study underlines that the duration of diabetes and sedentary lifestyle are risk factors for the occurrence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy and neuropathic pain. Particular attention should be paid to the interest of regular screening as well as physical activity in order to relieve diabetic patients and improve their quality of life.