Glucose Metabolism Impaired in Chronic Neuropathies
Two-hour glucose tolerance test a better indicator of abnormalities
MONDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- More than half of patients with chronic neuropathic pain of unknown cause have impairments in glucose metabolism, with the two-hour oral glucose tolerance test (2h-OGTT) a better indicator than fasting plasma glucose levels, according to a study published online June 12 in the Archives of Neurology.
Charlene Hoffman-Snyder, M.S.N., and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz., retrospectively analyzed the results of a fasting plasma glucose test and a 2h-OGTT from 100 consecutive patients with chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy of unknown cause. Patients had also undergone a complete neurological examination.
The researchers found that 62 percent of patients had abnormal fasting glucose metabolism compared with only 33 percent in the age-matched general population. Using the 2003 criteria from the American Diabetes Association, this was adjusted to 39 percent, which included three patients with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus. Sixty-two percent of patients had abnormal results for the 2h-OGTT, with 24 cases of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus.
"ThisÂ…adds to the increasing body of evidence that shows a higher prevalence of abnormal fasting glucose metabolism in patients with chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy in comparison with an age-matched U.S. population," the authors conclude. "The use of the 2h-OGTT is still of greater value than the revised fasting plasma glucose values to detect impaired glucose metabolism in patients with chronic neuropathies of unknown cause."