The Prevalence of Autonomic and Peripheral Neuropathy in Insulin‐treated Diabetic Sbjects

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Abstract
The prevalence of autonomic and peripheral neuropathy was examined in 506 diabetic sbjects treated with insulin, mean age 43 years, diabetes duration 15 (range 1–54) years. Autonomic neuropathy was present if two or more (of four) cardiovascular autonomic function tests were abnormal using age‐related ranges derived from 310 normal control sbjects. Peripheral neuropathy was defined as a vibration threshold >95th centile for age combined with absent/impaired ankle reflexes. Eighty‐four (16.6%) of diabetic sbjects had abnormal autonomic function and 119 (23.5%) peripheral neuropathy, concordant in 44/506 (8.7%). Of the diabetic sbjects with autonomic neuropathy 40/84 (47.6%) did not have peripheral neuropathy and only 44/119 (37.0%) with peripheral neuropathy had abnormal autonomic function (pppppp<0.001).