Nerve conduction in childhood diabetes.

Sixty-nine diabetic children were studied with respect to the motor nerve conduction velocities, duration of illness and adequacy of control.As a group there was a trend for children with diabetes to have slower MNCV than non-diabetic children, and for the slowing to become progressive as the duration of their disease increased. Poorer quality of diabetes control was also associated with progressive slowing of conduction but the exact relationship is uncertain, since no patient who had diabetes for more than four years was well controlled.Theories of causation of peripheral neuropathy in diabetic patients are reviewed; metabolic changes, rather than other factors, are thought most likely in children.