Diabetes is often considered to be the number-one risk factor for neuropathy, which affects around 50% of all diabetics.
However, not all diabetics get neuropathy, meaning that there must be another major risk factor.
Finally, a new study published in the journal Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy has identified this long-elusive factor—and it may be an even more significant risk factor than diabetes, as it increases your risk of neuropathy by 59%.
The good news is that it’s relatively easy to eliminate this risk factor, dramatically reducing your chances of developing neuropathy.
The researchers behind this study analyzed information previously collected by a study on diabetes at King Saud University Medical City in Riyadh. Overall, they analyzed the data of 430 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
The data included their demographic information, the details of their diabetic neuropathy, reports containing nerve conduction scores in their upper and lower extremities, and laboratory reports containing the standard medical details, such as blood sugar and cholesterol scores.
After crunching the numbers, they discovered that 40.2% of the patients suffered from neuropathy.
They identified five risk factors for neuropathy among diabetic patients.
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1. Men were 29% more likely to have neuropathy than women.
2. Patients with high fasting blood sugar were 16% more likely to have neuropathy.
3. Those with high cholesterol were 59% more likely to have neuropathy.
4. Those with high LDL cholesterol were 30% more likely to have neuropathy.
5. Those with high triglycerides (fats in their blood) were 29% more likely to have neuropathy.
Those with a higher BMI score were also more likely to have neuropathy, but the researchers could not firmly establish correlation.
With the exception of the male sex, all of these risk factors are within your control. As you can see from the above numbers above, cholesterol is the most critical risk factor—so you can focus your efforts on that if you want to reduce your chances of developing neuropathy.
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