Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, which seriously affect patients’ lives. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to the presence of inflammation and hyperglycemia, so it could be considered as a high risk factor for DPN. In this study we evaluated vitamin D level in diabetic patients and the association between vitamin D level and occurrence of diabetic neuropathy.

Materials and methods: Our study compressed 64 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, not supplemented with vitamin D, divided into 3 groups: 20 diabetic patients (10 males and 10 females) with painful DPN, 20 patients (10 males and 9 females) with painless DPN and 24 patients (10 males and 14 females) without DNP (with normal nerve conduction study).

Results: The average age of our patients was 57.04 years±11.05. 43.4% of patients were hypertensive; 27.8% had dyslipidemia; the mean BMI was 27.29±6.24 Kg/m². The average duration of diabetes was 08.78 years. The mean level of 25 OH vitamin D in first group was lower than in second and third group; respectively 13.24±5.19 vs 16.37±6.75 ng/ml vs 19.23±4.52 ng/ml. There was highly statistically significant difference between the three groups regarding vitamin D level. There is a significant negative correlation between vitamin D level and score of neuropathy where the lower vitamin D level, the higher neuropathy score (P=0.003). No significance for age or duration of diabetes progression.

Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency is common in diabetic subjects with peripheral neuropathy, mainly in the painful subtype. So, we recommended assessment of vitamin D levels in all diabetic patients as correction of vitamin D deficiency may delay the development of all subtypes DPN.