The associations between different types of diabetes neuropathy symptoms and neuropathy-specific quality of life: Results from the diabetes MILES the Netherlands study

Aim To determine the cross-sectional associations between type of diabetes neuropathy (DN) symptoms and self-reported neuropathy-specific quality of life (NS-QoL) in people ( N = 1324) with type 1 or 2 diabetes (T1D or T2D), and to assess demographic and clinical determinants of NS-QoL. Methods DN-symptoms and NS-QoL were assessed with the Neuropathy and Foot Ulcer-specific Quality of Life measure. Bootstrapped multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted to assess associations of DN-symptoms (pain, reduced sensitivity, diffuse sensory-motor symptoms, multiple types of symptoms or no DN-symptoms) with NS-QoL, adjusting for demographic and clinical variables. Results In the total group, the multiple symptoms group had the lowest NS-QoL. There were no significant differences in NS-QoL between the pain, reduced sensitivity and diffuse sensory-motor symptoms groups. All symptom groups (besides reduced sensitivity in T2D) reported a significantly lower NS-QoL. Furthermore, in T1D, lower NS-QoL was associated with more complications, higher age, and higher body mass index, while in T2D, it was associated with more complications, higher anxiety, and male sex. Conclusions Compared to people without DN symptoms, those with pain, reduced sensitivity, diffuse sensory-motor symptoms or multiple symptoms reported a lower NS-QoL in both T1D and T2D, with the strongest impairment among those reporting multiple symptoms.