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Published on: January 3, 2011
Subclinical inflammation and diabetic polyneuropathy: MONICA/KORA Survey F3 (Augsburg, Germany)
Christian Herder1, Mark Lankisch, Dan Ziegler
1Institute for Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany. christian.herder@ddz.uni-duesseldorf.de
Objective:
Subclinical inflammation represents a risk factor of type 2 diabetes and several diabetes complications, but data on diabetic neuropathies are scarce. Therefore, we investigated whether circulating concentrations of acute-phase proteins, cytokines, and chemokines differ among diabetic patients with or without diabetic polyneuropathy.
Research Design And Methods:
We measured 10 markers of subclinical inflammation in 227 type 2 diabetic patients with diabetic polyneuropathy who participated in the population-based MONICA/KORA Survey F3 (2004-2005; Augsburg, Germany). Diabetic polyneuropathy was diagnosed using the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument (MNSI).
Results:
After adjustment for multiple confounders, high levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin (IL)-6 were most consistently associated with diabetic polyneuropathy, high MNSI score, and specific neuropathic deficits, whereas some inverse associations were seen for IL-18.
Conclusions:
This study shows that subclinical inflammation is associated with diabetic polyneuropathy and neuropathic impairments. This association appears rather specific because only certain immune mediators and impairments are involved.
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