Frequency and clinical pattern of autonomic neuropathy in adult diabetic Sudanese patients

Abstract

Diabetic autonomic neuropathy can cause cardiac, gastrointestinal, genitourinary and metabolic disorders. Strict glycemic control can slow the onset of diabetic autonomic neuropathy and sometimes reverse it. The study was aimed at investigating the presence of diabetic autonomic neuropathy in a group of Sudanese diabetic patients. This is a descriptive prospective cross-sectional study. It was conducted at Herra medical center and Alnoor specialized center in Omdurman. One hundred diabetic patients were studied using standardized questionnaire, including history, clinical examination and investigations. Female to male ratio was 1.7:1. Most of the patients had Type 1 Diabetes mellitus (DM). Common age group affected was >51 years and common duration of DM was < 10 years. Diabetic autonomic neuropathy was diagnosed in 71% of the patients. The majority of the patients had early stage diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Diabetic autonomic neuropathy is a very common problem among our studied group (all the patients were adult diabetic Sudanese). Diabetic autonomic neuropathy can occur at any age and at any time, even at early diagnosis of diabetes but poor glycemic control is the main implicating factor. All diabetic patients have to do annual expiration/inspiration ratio to detect early stages of diabetic autonomic neuropathy