Plasma homocysteine levels are independently associated with the severity of peripheral polyneuropathy in type 2 diabetic subjects.

González, Ricardo; Pedro, Teresa; Martinez-Hervas, Sergio; Civera, Miguel; Antonia Priego, Maria; Catalá, Miguel; Javier Chaves, F.; Ascaso, Juan F.; Carmena, Rafael; Real, Jose T.

Peripheral polyneuropathy (PN) is a frequent complication of diabetes. However, mechanisms underlying the development of PN are multifactorial and not well understood. Our aim was to examine the association of plasma homocysteine (Hcy) with the prevalence and grade of peripheral PN in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). We studied a cohort of 196 subjects with T2DM classified according to the grade of PN (Neuropathy Disability Score, NDS). Subjects with the highest grade of PN were older and had significantly increased levels of creatinine, microalbuminuria, HbA1c, and plasma Hcy compared to the other two groups. The differences in plasma Hcy values were maintained after correcting for confounding factors. Plasma Hcy, HbA1c, duration of diabetes, and age were predictors of the grade of PN. In conclusion, for each increase of 1 µmol in plasma Hcy there was a 23% increase of the risk of diabetic PN evaluated by NDS. Moreover, the grade of PN was predicted by plasma Hcy and HbA1c values, age and duration of diabetes. Further prospective studies should be conducted to confirm the association of plasma Hcy levels with the grade of PN in subjects with T2DM.

SPAIN; TYPE 2 diabetes complications; AGE distribution; ANALYSIS of covariance; ANALYSIS of variance; CHI-squared test; STATISTICAL correlation; DIABETIC neuropathies; EPIDEMIOLOGY; GLYCOSYLATED hemoglobin; POLYNEUROPATHIES; RESEARCH funding; HOMOCYSTEINE; LOGISTIC regression analysis; DATA analysis; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; DISEASE risk factors

Journal of the Peripheral Nervous System, 2012, Vol 17, Issue 2, p191

1085-9489

Academic Journal

10.1111/j.1529-8027.2012.00408.x