Authors (including presenting author) :
Woo CW(1)(2), Yee BK(2), Chau RMW(1), Choi CH(3), Steven Wong(4), Cheing GLY(2)
Affiliation :
(1)Physiotherapy Department, Kowloon Hospital
(2)Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
(3)Department of Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
(4)Department of Anesthesiology and Operating Theatre Services, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Introduction :
People with diabetes mellitus (DM) are found to be at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). DM and AD share some common pathophysiological processes. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is associated with changes occurring in peripheral nerve due to chronic hyperglycaemia and poor microcirculation. Similar changes occurring in the central nervous system may undermine higher brain function. Indeed, the presence of PN has shown to be linked to cognitive deficiency in people with DM. Cognitive deficiency will lead to reduced Quality of Life (QoL). However, limited efforts have been made to investigate the impact of DPN on cognitive and QoL in people with DM.
Objectives :
The objectives of present study were to:
1. Characterize the cognitive impairment in community-dwelling people with DM;
2. Examine the impact of DPN on QoL as compared to the same cohort of DM subjects recruited.
Methodology :
This was a cohort study conducted at the Diabetes Clinic in Specialist Outpatient Clinic at Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Nineteen subjects with DPN, twenty-one subjects with DM (DM without DPN), and eight healthy control subjects were recruited by convenient sampling. Reaction time, working memory and spatial planning were assessed by a subset of tests selected from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), administered via a touch-based tablet. The Chinese (Hong Kong) 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (version 2) questionnaire was used to quantify QoL.
Result & Outcome :
CANTAB results showed that the DPN and DM subjects exhibited significantly slower reaction time (p=0.01) compared with healthy controls. DPN subjects were also deficient in working memory (p=0.05) and spatial planning (p<0.01) relative to health controls. Subjects with DM (without DPN) performed at an intermediate level between DPN and healthy controls in all three modular tests. Our results supported the hypothesized link between DPN and cognitive impairment in DM that might indicate the vulnerability of frontal lobe and parietal lobe functions. DPN subjects had significantly lower self-perceived physical health compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). Furthermore, DPN had a negative impact on the physical health domain of QoL of people with DM.
Co-location with:
