The Short-term Prognosis in Diabetic Neuropathy

Abstract

Seventy-three patients with diabetic neuropathy have been followed for periods ranging from two to four and three-quarter years. Symptoms of neuropathy tended to improve though some patients thought that numbness became more severe. Of the signs of neuropathy, weakness and hyperalgesia or hyperesthesia usually improved, impaired pain sensation deteriorated twice as often as it improved, and ankle jerks, vibration sense at the ankles, and position sense in the big toes usually remained the same. Impairment of these last three signs occurred as frequently in a random group of diabetic patients as in the present selected series and was therefore not a feature of symptomatic neuropathy.