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Peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity in diabetic children and adolescents

Relationships to metabolic control, HLA-DR antigens, retinopathy, and EEG

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Abstract

To investigate incipient diabetic neuropathy, peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity (PMNCV) was measured in 61 diabetic children and adolescents whose type 1 diabetes became clinically apparent before the age of 14 years. PMNCV in diabetic patients (48.3±5.6m/s) was significantly lower than in controls (56.5±5.5 m/s), 23 diabetics (36%) having a value more than 2 SD below the mean for normals. There was a highly significant negative correlation between PMNCV and HbA1 levels concomitant with PMNCV measurement or mean annual HbA1 concentrations preceding PMNCV. The relationship between PMNCV and the clinical score of diabetic control since the onset of the disease was also significant. Age, duration of diabetes and HLR-DR antigens were unrelated to PMNCV. EEG abnormalities and retinopathy, whose pathogenesis is different, were not necessarily associated with subclinical neuropathy. Being easy and sensitive, PMNCV determination provides the paediatric diabetologist and the patient himself with an important motivation to improve diabetic control.

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Abbreviations

PMNCV:

peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Diabetology Unit of the Paediatric Department, Saint-Pierre University Hospital, rue Haute 320, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium

    H. Dorchy

  2. Neurology Unit, Paediatric and Internal Medicine Departments, Saint-Pierre Hospital, Belgium

    P. Noel, M. Kruger & S. Pele

  3. Interdisciplinary Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Belgium

    V. de Maertelaer

  4. Tissue Typing Laboratory, Erasme Hospital, Belgium

    E. Dupont

  5. Ophthalmology Unit, Brugmann Hospital Free University of Brussels, Belgium

    D. Toussaint

Authors
  1. H. Dorchy
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  2. P. Noel
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  3. M. Kruger
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  4. V. de Maertelaer
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  5. E. Dupont
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  6. D. Toussaint
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  7. S. Pele
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Dorchy, H., Noel, P., Kruger, M. et al. Peroneal motor nerve conduction velocity in diabetic children and adolescents. Eur J Pediatr 144, 310–315 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00441770

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00441770

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