Neuropathy Common in Young Adults

By Diane Fennell As many as 70% of people with diabetes are estimated to have some form of neuropathy, or nerve damage. And now, new research published in the journal Diabetes Care suggests that roughly a quarter of young people with Type 2 diabetes have the condition. As part of the ongoing SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth study, researchers looked at data from 399 youths with diabetes, all of whom had been diagnosed before they turned 20. The 329 participants with Type 1 diabetes had an average age of 15.7, while the 70 participants with Type 2 had an average age of 21.6. Those with Type 2 had a higher body-mass index (a measure of weight relative to height), waist circumference, blood fat levels, and blood pressure than those with Type 1, but A1C levels (a measure of blood glucose levels over the previous 2–3 months) did not differ significantly between the two groups. The researchers used an evaluation known as the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI), which involves both a questionnaire and a multipart physical assessment, to determine how many of the participants had neuropathy. The results showed that 8.2% of the youths with Type 1 and 25.7% of the youths with Type 2 were experiencing diabetic peripheral neuropathy. (By comparison, approximately 30% to 70% of adults with diabetes have the condition, according to the study authors.) The youth who had neuropathy were significantly older, with a longer duration of diabetes, greater waist circumference,...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - Category: Diabetes Authors: Source Type: blogs