Nerve conduction velocity is negatively associated with intima-media thickness and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

ObjectivePrevious studies suggest that the presence of diabetic peripheral polyneuropathy (DPN) is associated with atherosclerotic diseases; however, little is known about the relationship between diabetic nerve conduction velocity (NCV) versus arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis parameters.MethodsThe subjects in this study were 292 men with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). All subjects underwent NCV examination at median and tibial nerves as motor nerve (MCV) as well as median and sural nerves as sensory nerve (SCV). Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) were evaluated as arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis parameters.ResultsPearson’s correlation coefficient showed that NCV at all sites negatively correlated with baPWV, maximal and mean IMT (IMT-Max and IMT-Mean), and plaque score (all p values p<0.01 at least). Multiple regression analyses adjusted for confounding factors such as age, duration of diabetes, body mass index, HbA1c, fasting C-peptide, systolic blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and albuminuria showed that the association of NCV with IMT-Max, ITM-Mean, and plaque score remained significant (all p values p<0.05 at least) except that between SCV at median and IMT-Max. Moreover, SCV at median (forearm) and sural were significantly associated with baPWV (p = 0.023 and p = 0.027, respectively).ConclusionThe present study showed that DPN estimated by quantitative NCV is linearly associated with the deterioration of arterial stiffness and atherosclerosis parameters in T2DM independently of various diabetic and atherosclerotic factors.

Association of arterial stiffness and neuropathy in diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“… 28 51 Refaie 65 only included women. Morimoto et al 56 and Tanaka et al 75 only included men. Scarpello et al 68 did not report sex.…”

“…In total, 60 studies were included in the systematic review,26–85 with 43 of those studies including at least one arterial stiffness measurement suitable for meta-analysis 29–31 33–35 37–39 41 42 46 47 52 53 55 57 59–77 79–85. Although various studies adjusted for age, sex, diabetes duration, or SBP in data analysis, the values used in the meta-analyses were not adjusted for, other than those studies that only included participants of one sex 65 75. Aso et al 29 and Yokoyama et al 83 investigated both CAN and PN (figure 1).…”

“…✓ association found between arterial stiffness and neuropathyx no association found between arterial stiffness and neuropathy; - not reported.*only reported by way of abstract; values included in meta-analysis do not control for age, sex, diabetes duration or SBP, other than those that included participants of one sex 65 751, type 1 diabetes; 2, type 2 diabetes; AIx, augmentation index; ba, brachial-ankle; CAN, cardiac autonomic neuropathy; CC, case-control; cf, carotid-femoral; CS, cross-sectional; DM, diabetes mellitus; PN, peripheral neuropathy; PP, pulse pressure; PWV, pulse wave velocity; SBP, systolic blood pressure.…”

“…*only reported by way of abstract; values included in meta-analysis do not control for age, sex, diabetes duration or SBP, other than those that included participants of one sex 65 75…”

“…For the purposes of investigating arterial stiffness and neuropathy, we classified 53 of the studies as cross-sectional,26 28–31 33–36 38–62 64–67 69 71 73–85 5 as case-control37 63 68 70 72 and 2 as cohort 27 32. For cross-sectional studies, all participants had diabetes, except Allison et al 26 and Kuo et al ,46 who included participants regardless of diabetes status, as well as Cho et al ,35 who alongside participants with diabetes, also separately analyzed those with no history of disease known to cause PN.…”