Frequency, Risk Factors and Clinical Forms of Neuropathies in Diabetics in Hospitals in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Introduction: Diabetic neuropathy is one of the most common chronic complications of diabetes. Most of the studies on the subject in the sub region, particularly in Burkina Faso, dealt it with the study of the complications of diabetes, or one of its components. Our study was designed to study in particular in all its aspects, by searching for its peculiarities in our context, for improvement of its support. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in 150 diabetic patients aged at least 15 years followed in the Department of Internal Medicine at Yalgado Ouedraogo University Teaching Hospital. All patients included had agreed to participate in our survey after informed consent. We collected the data during the period from 2015 November to 2016 June. Each patient was evaluated by the DN4 questionnaire and clinically by a neurological examination. We determinated the frequency, the sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic characteristics of diabetes neuropathy and its related factors. Results: The frequency of diabetic neuropathy was 80.7%. Peripheral neuropathies were seen in 81.8% of cases and autonomic neuropathies in 72.7% of cases. Autonomic neuropathy was dominated by the DAN (59.1%), and erectile dysfunction (44%). There was a high comorbidity with physical inactivity (66.9%), obesity (49.4%) and hypertension (38.8%). There were poorly controlled patients in 38.8%. A link was found between T2DM and neuropathy (p = 0.014). Painful diabetes was related to the quality of glycemic control (p = 0.007), and hypertension (p = 0.021). A link was also found between tobacco consumption (p < 0.001), male (p < 0.001), and urogenital autonomic neuropathy. Conclusion: Diabetic neuropathies are very common in our context and could be a haunting to the practitioner with the progression of diabetes and its corollary of degenerative complications. There was a significant association between Type 2 Diabetes mellitus and the presence of peripheral diabetic neuropathy.