Simplified electrodiagnostic criteria of diabetic polyneuropathy in field study (KCIS No. 14).

This study sought to determine the sensitivity of sural sensory action amplitude (SAP) and peroneal motor conduction velocity (MCV) for differentiating the status of other nerve conduction velocities and identifying important correlates of diabetic polyneuropathy. Subjects (n = 708) with type 2 diabetes from one community completed a preliminary questionnaire. Among the 298 subjects with positive questionnaire results, 272 completed nerve conduction tests. The means of 6 nerve conduction velocities of subjects with both SAP and MCV abnormalities were compared to those of normal controls. The mean conduction velocities of all motor and sensory nerves were slower (p < 0.05) in subjects with polyneuropathy than without polyneuropathy. Important known correlates of diabetic polyneuropathy can also be identified by this electrophysiological definition. The sural SAP and peroneal MCV together serve as a good diagnostic for diabetic polyneuropathy and can be used as a simplified criterion in field studies.