Peripheral Neuropathy in Juvenile Diabetes

In order to study the incidence of diabetic peripheral neuropathy in children, nerve conduction studies and complete neurological examinations were performed on 107 unselected diabetic children below seventeen years of age. Motor conduction velocity of the ulnar, median, and peroneal nerves and sensory “conduction velocity” of the median nerves were measured by electromyographical technics. On the basis of the results of the electrophysiological and neurological examinations, eleven patients were considered to have definite evidence of peripheral nerve disease, twenty-three had equivocal findings, and seventy-three had no demonstrable abnormalities. The diabetic children with definite evidence of peripheral neuropathy had a longer duration of diabetes mellitus, a later age at onset of the disease, and were older at the time of examination than those patients without evidence of peripheral nerve disease. Those children with neuropathy were also thought to have poorer control of diabetes than those without neuropathy, but this was difficult to evaluate because of the interrelationship of the control factor with the duration of the disease. Three patients were found to have diabetic angiopathy; one had unequivocal, one equivocal and one no signs of neuropathy.