Purpose: To investigate the risk factors associated with subclinical diabetic peripheral neuropathy (sDPN) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional, retrospective study involved 311 patients with T2DM who were successively admitted from January 2018 to December 2021 without any neurological symptoms. All participants underwent a nerve conduction study (NCS), and those asymptomatic patients with abnormal nerve conduction were diagnosed with sDPN. Differences between groups were evaluated by the chi-squared, Wilcoxon, or Fisher’s exact test. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the independent risk factors for sDPN. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed, and the areas under curves (AUCs) were detected.
Results: Among 311 asymptomatic patients with T2DM, 142 (45.7%) with abnormal nerve conduction were diagnosed with sDPN. Patients with sDPN significantly differed from those without diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in age, history of hypertension, duration of diabetes, anemia, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, fasting C-peptide level, serum creatinine level, and albuminuria (all p< 0.05). Furthermore, the duration of diabetes (odds ratio [OR]: 1.062, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.016– 1.110), fasting C-peptide level (OR: 2.427, 95% CI: 1.126– 5.231), and presence of albuminuria (OR: 2.481, 95% CI: 1.406– 4.380) were independently associated with the development of sDPN (all p< 0.05). The AUCs for fasting C-peptide level, duration of diabetes, and the two factors combined were 0.6229 (95% CI: 0.5603– 0.6855, p=0.0002), 0.6738 (95% CI: 0.6142– 0.7333, p< 0.0001), and 0.6808 (95% CI: 0.6212– 0.7404, p< 0.0001), respectively.
Conclusion: For patients with T2DM and longer duration of diabetes, lower fasting C-peptide levels, and presence with albuminuria, the risk for developing DPN is higher even if they have no clinical signs or symptoms. Identifying potential risk factors for the development of sDPN and effectively controlling them early are critical for the successful management of DPN.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes mellitus, subclinical diabetic peripheral neuropathy, nerve conduction study, fasting C-peptide, albuminuria, risk factor