Lisha Sun,1,* Xiaoran Zhang,1,* Jiao Yang,1,* Jun Yuan,2 Xingxing Lei1 

1Department of Endocrinology, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China; 2Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Xingxing Lei, Email iopmj38169@tom.com

Objective: Visceral fat area (VFA) levels have been found to exhibit a strong association with various conditions such as insulin resistance (IR), inflammation, oxidative stress, metabolic syndrome (MetS), hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and its vascular complications. These complications include hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetic retinopathy (DR), albuminuria, and cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction, which is considered one of the main types of diabetic neuropathy. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between visceral fat and peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).
Methods: A retrospective analysis of clinical data of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes admitted to our hospital was conducted. After excluding 28 cases, a total of 488 patients were included, divided into the group with peripheral neuropathy (207 cases) and the control group without peripheral neuropathy (281 cases). The correlation between VFA and the presence of DPN was assessed using correlation and multiple logistic regression analyses.
Results: In terms of general information, the group with peripheral neuropathy had lower BMI but longer duration of diabetes compared to the control group. Regarding biochemical indicators, VFA were lower in the group with peripheral neuropathy, while FPG and HbA1c levels were higher (all P< 0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed a negative correlation between VFA, and the presence of peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes (P< 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that VFA, duration of diabetes, and HbA1c level were influencing factors for the occurrence of peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes (P< 0.05).
Conclusion: This study revealed a correlation between visceral fat and peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes, highlighting the importance of monitoring visceral fat in such patients. In addition to lower levels of VFA, factors such as duration of diabetes and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level were also associated with peripheral neuropathy in patients with T2DM.

Keywords: type 2 diabetes, visceral fat, peripheral neuropathy, correlation, metabolic complications