Abstract
Background Currently, diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most severe complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). Despite the seriousness of this problem, limited evidence is available on the prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among patients with diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, there were no updated studies that estimate the national prevalence of DPN. Hence, this systematic review and meta-analysis provided a national prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among patients with diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia. Methods This study was submitted for registration with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) in March 2020 and accepted with the registration number CRD42020173831. Different database searching engines were searched online to retrieve related articles, including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, African Journals Online, World Health Organization (WHO) Afro Library, and Cochrane Review. The reviewers used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guideline in the reviewing process. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, all published and unpublished articles were analyzed. The reviewers used the random effects model to estimate the pooled prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among diabetes mellitus patients. The reviewers conducted the statistical analysis using the R version 3.5.3 and RStudio version 1.2.5033 software for Windows. The reviewers evaluated the heterogeneity across the included studies by the inconsistency index (I2). The reviewers examined the publication bias by the funnel plot. Results The search of the databases produced 245 papers. After checking the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 38 articles with 14029 total patients with diabetes mellitus were found suitable for the review. Except for three (retrospective cohort study), all studies were cross-sectional. The overall pooled prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy was 22% (95% CI 18% to 26%). The subgroup analysis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among patients with diabetes in the different regions was 23% (95% CI 17% to 29%) in Addis Ababa, 27% (95% CI 16% to 38%) in Oromia, 16% (95% CI 14% to 18%) in South nation and nationalities, and 15% (95% CI 6% to 24%) in Amhara. Conclusions More than one-fifth of patients with diabetes have diabetic peripheral neuropathy. According to this study, the prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in Ethiopia is considerably high. This evidence suggests that attention should be given to patients with diabetes in monitoring patients' blood glucose.
Highlights
Half a billion people are living with diabetes worldwide and will increase by 578 million (25%) in 2030 and 700 million (51%) in 2045 [1].Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that can predispose to diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys, and nerves
Based on the predefined criteria and quality assessment, 38 full-text articles with 14029 total patients with diabetes were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis
To look at the heterogeneity of the studies included in this review, we conducted subgroup analysis by regions, and we found that a study done in Addis Ababa had the highest pooled point estimate of peripheral neuropathy in patients with diabetes, accounting for 23%, and the lowest prevalence was reported from the Amhara region (15%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 6, 24)
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that can predispose to diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lungs, kidneys, and nerves Such damage may result in a decreased blood flow to the feet, which is coupled with neuropathy to the nerves—raising the risk of foot ulcers, inflammation, and subsequent limb amputation [2]. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most severe complications of diabetes mellitus (DM). This systematic review and meta-analysis provided a national prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among patients with diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia. The reviewers used the random effects model to estimate the pooled prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy among diabetes mellitus patients. The prevalence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in Ethiopia is considerably high. This evidence suggests that attention should be given to patients with diabetes in monitoring patients’ blood glucose
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