Abstract
Background Diabetic dermopathy is one of the most prevalent skin complications in diabetes patients. Some studies have pointed to association of diabetic dermopathy with retinopathy and nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes as microangiopathy presentations, but no rigorous study has been conducted to confirm this association. Objectives This study investigated association of diabetic dermopathy with nephropathy and retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes referring specialty clinic of Shahrekord. Patients and Methods This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 102 type 2 diabetes patients with dermopathy referring clinic constantly or as outpatient. Dermatological and ophthalmological examinations and examination for nephropathy were done for all patients. Demographic data and results of examinations and patients history, and biochemical tests were gathered and recorded by researcher developed checklists. Results Mean age of patients was 83.8 2.60 years, of whom 64 (63.7%) were female and 37.3% were male. Prevalence of retinopathy in patients was 4.31% and nephropathy 3.33%. In this study, significant associations of diabetic dermopathy with diabetic nephropathy (P = 0.001), with retinopathy (P < 0.001), age (P < 0.001), duration of diabetes (P = 0.001), and also with glycosylated hemoglobin (P < 0.01) was detected. No significant association between diabetic dermopathy and other studied variables was seen (P > 0.05). Conclusions Results of this study confirm the association of diabetic dermopathy with retinopathy and nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes. Since dermopathy is usually developed before retinopathy and nephropathy, dermopathy could be used as a clinical finding in early diagnosis and prevention of retinopathy and nephropathy in diabetes patients.
Highlights
Diabetic dermopathy is one of the most prevalent skin complications in diabetes patients
Several studies have examined the association between retinopathy and nephropathy in diabetes patients, most of which have considered the incidence of retinopathy as necessary for nephropathy diagnosis [9,19,20]
Since diabetic dermopathy is prevalent and generally takes place before retinopathy and nephropathy, early diagnosis of dermopathy could help to predict the incidence of retinopathy and nephropathy, delay their incidence and adverse and dangerous consequences, or slow down their progression by managing diabetes and other factors more efficiently if the association between dermopathy and incidence of retinopathy and nephropathy is confirmed in the patients with type 2 diabetes
Summary
Diabetic dermopathy is one of the most prevalent skin complications in diabetes patients. Out of the microvascular complications, diabetic dermopathy is the most prevalent skin presentation [11,12], including hyperpigmented and atrophic macules or papules with no sharp border and usually occurring on the front leg in diabetes patients. These lesions are asymptomatic and often do not cause pain and itching. The mortality from heart coronary disease is two to four times higher in the patients with type 2 diabetes These events are associated with fasting blood sugar, non-fasting blood sugar, and HbA1c [16,17,18] and all the factors involved in developing sensitive complications should be studied. Since diabetic dermopathy is prevalent and generally takes place before retinopathy and nephropathy, early diagnosis of dermopathy could help to predict the incidence of retinopathy and nephropathy, delay their incidence and adverse and dangerous consequences, or slow down their progression by managing diabetes and other factors more efficiently if the association between dermopathy and incidence of retinopathy and nephropathy is confirmed in the patients with type 2 diabetes
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