Study of Incidence and Prevalence of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy in Type II Diabetes Mellitus by Bedside Screening Techniques at a Tertiary Care Centre

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus commonly leads to peripheral neuropathy in patients with chronically high blood sugar levels. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy leads to numbness, loss of sensation or may have extremely painful symptoms. In some patients there might be marked neuropathic deficit which may be unnoticed. Objectives: Hence to evaluate patients with diabetes mellitus helps in early screening of peripheral neuropathy. Methodology: This involves using the bedside screening techniques like monofilament test, biothesiometer, tuning fork test and diabetic symptom and examination questioner. Results: Diabetic neuropathy was most commonly present in poor control of diabetes (67%) followed by fair control (24%) and good control (9%). It was observed that severity of peripheral neuropathy was related with blood sugar. With high frequency of patients leading to diabetic peripheral neuropathy the observation is that morbidity remains high in such patients. Conclusion: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a major complication of diabetes mellitus. Rapid diagnosis and management are important, since recent modalities include like tricyclic antidepressants or anticonvulsants and optimal glycemic control can improve outcome of these patients. Early diagnosis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy is considered at risk of foot ulcerations and must receive preventive education and care.