Factors associated with attendance at clinical follow-up of a cohort with screen-detected type 2 diabetes: ADDITION-Denmark.

AIMS: To determine the association between concurrent overall burden of disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, self-rated health, HbA1c levels, and attendance at clinical follow-up of the Danish arm of the ADDITION-study. METHODS: Logistic regression models were used to study factors proposed being associated with attendance in clinical follow-up. We used data from clinical examinations, questionnaires and national registers at a time-point near the follow-up examination. RESULTS: A total of 1119 participants were eligible for the follow-up conducted a median of 12.8 years (IQR 11.6; 13.4) after type 2 diabetes diagnosis by screening. Concurrent high burden of disease was associated with lower attendance (OR 0.6 (95% CI: 0.4; 0.9) for high-versus no burden of disease). Concurrent cardiovascular disease and cancer showed no statistically significant association with attendance (OR 1.0 (95% CI: 0.7; 1.4)) and (OR 0.8 (95% CI: 0.6; 1.1) for (disease versus no disease). Similarly, self-rated health (OR 0.7 (95% CI: 0.5; 1.0) poor-versus good self-rated health) and HbA1c levels (OR 1.0 (95% CI: 0.9; 1.2 unit=10mmol/mol)) were not statistically significant associated with attendance. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a lower attendance in clinical follow-up after nearly 13years among individuals with concurrent high burden of disease. No associations were found between concurrent CVD, cancer, self-rated health and Hba1c levels and attendance.

Painful and non-painful diabetic polyneuropathy: Clinical characteristics and diagnostic issues.

Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a common complication of diabetes and can be either painful or non-painful. It is challenging to diagnose this complication, as no biomarker or clear consensus on the clinical definition of either painful or non-painful DN exists. Hence, a hierarchical classification has been developed categorizing the probability of the diagnosis into: possible, probable or definite, based on the clinical presentation of symptoms and signs. Pain is a warning signal of tissue damage, and non-painful DN therefore represents a clinical and diagnostic challenge because it often goes unnoticed until irreversible nerve damage has occurred. Simple clinical tests seem to be the best for evaluation of DN in the general care for diabetes. Screening programs at regular intervals might be the most optimal strategy for early detection and interventions to possibly prevent further neuronal damage and to lower the economic burden of this complication.