PURPOSE of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and impact of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) on the quality of life of patients with diabetes mellitus. METHODS: A pilot cross-sectional study of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T1DM and T2DM) was conducted. Patients were divided into three groups: group 1 = diabetic neuropathy with pain; group 2 = diabetic neuropathy without pain; group 3 = lack of diabetic neuropathy. The quality of life was assessed by SF-36v2. RESULTS: The prevalence of DPN is 43% among the two groups of patients and higher T2DM (50.8%) compared T1DM (25.6%). DPN with pain was 14% among all subjects with DPN, which was again more often in patients with T2DM (17.9%) than in patients with T1DM (5.8%). Patients in group 1 had statistically significant lower QoL compared to group 2 in all 8 dimensions on SF-36. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetic neuropathy without and with pain is a common complication for type 2 diabetes mellitus. This condition can be identified with cheap and easy-to-use screening tools. Despite its profound impact on QoL, painful diabetic neuropathy remains under-studied.

AbstractSubarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) occurs primarily during early to mid-adulthood; approximately 30% of individuals with SAH die within 2 weeks, and mortality is 30% to 45%. SAH happens suddenly, without patients being aware of previous heart abnormalities. Here, we performed a pilot single cohort (historical) study to examine the hypothesis that early abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG) changes may reveal unknown but “silent” heart pathologies in SAH patients without previous heart disease (PHD). Data were collected retrospectively on 56 consecutive patients during the acute phase of SAH (29 men, 27 women; mean age 49.0 ± 6.2 years) with different degrees of neurologic deficit (Hunt-Hess scale assessment) in a 2-year period single-cohort study. Repolarization abnormalities were most frequent (p<0.05) and were independent of a history of PHD, although it corresponded to a higher risk for such abnormalities (odds ratio OR=3.21; CI95%=1.01–10.22). ECG changes in patients without PHD were similar to those in PHD patients, confirming the hypothesis that SAH is associated with previously “silent” heart pathology. The increased frequency of ECG changes in PHD patients and their high incidence in no-PHD patients suggested a neurogenic form of myocardial dysfunction following SAH. Notably, repolarization changes were more frequent in patients with less severe deficit (p<0.05), whereas rhythm and conductive abnormalities were more frequent in patients with more severe neurologic deficit.