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In a study now online in the journal Diabetes, University
of Michigan and Wayne State University researchers analyzed data
from 427 diabetes patients with neuropathy, a condition in which
nerves are damaged or lost with resulting numbness, tingling and
pain, often in the hands, arms, legs and feet.
The data revealed that if a patient had elevated triglycerides,
he or she was significantly more likely to experience worsening
neuropathy over a period of one year. Other factors, such as
higher levels of other fats in the blood or of blood glucose,
did not turn out to be significant. The study will appear in
print in the journal’s July issue.
“In our study, elevated serum triglycerides were the most
accurate at predicting nerve fiber loss, compared to all other
measures,” says Kelli A. Sullivan, Ph.D., co-first author
of the study and an assistant research professor in neurology at
the U-M Medical School.
“These results set the stage for clinicians to be able to
address lowering lipid counts with their diabetes patients with
neuropathy as vigilantly as they pursue glucose control,” says
Eva L. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D., senior author of the study and the
Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology at the U-M Medical
School.
With a readily available predictor for nerve damage –
triglycerides are measured as part of routine blood testing –
doctors and patients can take pro-active steps when
interventions can do some good, says Feldman.
“Aggressive treatment can be very beneficial to patients in
terms of their neuropathy,” says Feldman, who is also director
of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute and director
of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Center at U-M for
the study of complications in diabetes.
People can reduce blood triglyceride levels with the same
measures that reduce cholesterol levels: by avoiding harmful
fats in the diet and exercising regularly.
Context:
Diabetic neuropathy affects around 60 percent of the 23 million
people in the United States who have diabetes. It is a
complication in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Until now, doctors have lacked an effective way to predict which
diabetes patients are at greatest risk of neuropathy. Most
often, the condition becomes evident when irreversible nerve
damage has already occurred. Neuropathy is the leading cause of
diabetes-related hospital admissions and amputations that are
not secondary to trauma.
Triglycerides are a type of lipid, or fat, that the body makes
from calories it doesn’t need immediately. Triglycerides are
stored in fat cells until they are needed to provide energy.
When higher-than-normal amounts circulate in the blood, a person
is at higher risk of cardiovascular disease. |
