Objective: There is preliminary evidence that visceral fat area (VFA) was associated with the presence of type 2 diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in the Korean population; however, no studies have reported the association in Chinese population. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible correlation of VFA with DPN in such a population.
Methods: A total of 2498 hospitalized patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) undergone VFA measurement, and were divided into DPN group (n=900) and non-DPN group (n=1594). The association of VFA with the presence of DPN was evaluated by correlation and multiple logistic regression analyses, generalized additive model with a smooth curve fitting, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.
Results: The VFA was significantly lower in the DPN group than in the non-DPN group (P < 0.001). VFA was significantly and positively associated with sural nerve conduction velocity (SNCV) and amplitude potential (SNAP) and negatively associated with the presence of DPN (all P< 0.001); there was no significant difference in the curve fitting (P =  0.344). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the risk of presence of DPN decreased progressively across the VFA quartiles (P for trend < 0.001) and was significantly lower in patients in the highest VFA quartile than in those in the lowest quartile (OR: 0.382, 95% CI 0.151– 0.968, P< 0.001) after multivariate adjustment. The ROC analysis revealed that the best cut-off value of VFA for predicting the presence of DPN was 50.5cm² (sensitivity 84.40%; specificity 34.00%).
Conclusion: These results suggest that lower VFA level may be associated with increased risk of the presence of DPN in T2DM patients.
Keywords: visceral fat area, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, sural nerve conduction velocity, sural nerve amplitude potential, Chinese population