A Comparative Study of Sensory and Motor Nerve Conduction Velocity in Prediabetes and Diabetes

Diabetic neuropathy is a very common clinical problem and troublesome complication of diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of peripheral neuropathy is rising with the global burden of diabetes mellitus. Prediabetes is increasingly being viewed as an important contributor to neuropathy. Neuropathy can be assessed electrophysiologically. Monitoring of the nerve conduction velocity is a sensitive method for detection of neuropathies. In this study we try to look for changes in nerve conduction velocity in prediabetes and diabetes. A total of 120 subjects were categorized as: Group I: 40 subjects with normal glucose level, Group II: 40 prediabetes and Group III: 40 diabetic subjects. Nerve conduction study was done on these subjects using RMS EMG EP MARK-11 equipment which works on Windows XP with Microsoft Office 2007. The nerve conduction velocity of Peroneal and Sural nerve were measured. The data obtained from this study showed that the conduction velocity of peroneal nerve in prediabetes was decreased when compared with controls and the sural nerve conduction velocity was significantly decreased in prediabetes (p value of 0.047) and diabetes (p value of <0.001) when compared with the controls indicating early onset of neuropathy even in prediabetes. Nerve conduction studies should be of value to determine neuropathy in prediabetes. This study supported the idea that prediabetes is a transitional state before diabetes and also the importance of the nerve conduction for early detection of neuropathy.