J Korean Diabetes Assoc.  2007 Mar;31(2):151-156. 10.4093/jkda.2007.31.2.151.

Erythropoietin Levels According to the Presence of Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetic Patients with Anemia

• Jin HY
• Jeung SJ
• Kim CH
• Park JH
• Baek HS
• Park TS

• KMID: 2008084
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4093/jkda.2007.31.2.151

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Peripheral neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, contributing the greatest morbidity and mortality and impairing the quality of life. Recently the receptor of erythropoietin (Epo) was proven to be expressed in neuronal cell and recombinant human Epo (rhEpo) has been shown to have neuroprotective and neurotrophic potential in peripheral neuropathy. But there is no report about baseline Epo level in blood before rhEpo treatment with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
METHODS
From Jan. 2000 to Sep. 2006, diabetic patients were reviewed about Epo level in blood, anemia, and peripheral neuropathy in Chonbuk National University Hospital. And we compared the mean value of baseline Epo level in diabetic patients with anemia according to the peripheral neuropathy.
RESULTS
The mean value of Epo of patients with peripheral neuropathy was lower than that of patients without peripheral neuropathy (16.3 +/- 7.1 vs 26.1 +/- 29.7 mU/mL, P < 0.05). There was no significance in the correlation between hemoglobin and Epo level in diabetic patients with anemia irrespective of presence of peripheral neuropathy (r = -0.02, P = 0.81).
CONCLUSION
We suggest that decreased Epo level in blood is possible to be an additional cause in the development of peripheral neuropathy. However, simultaneously another possibility that neuropathy causes reduced Epo level should be considered, so further studies are warranted in this field.

Keyword

Diabetes mellitus; Erythropoietin; Peripheral neuropathy

MeSH Terms

Anemia*
Diabetes Mellitus
Erythropoietin*
Humans
Jeollabuk-do
Mortality
Neurons
Peripheral Nervous System Diseases*
Quality of Life
Erythropoietin

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 The comparison of serum Epo level between anemic patients with DPN and anemic patients without DPN. DPN, Diabetic peripheral neuropathy; Epo, Erythropoietin

• 

  Fig. 2 The correlation between the level of serum Epo and hemoglobin in diabetic patients with anemia. Correlation coefficient was not statistically significant irrespective of presence of DPN (r = -0.02, P = 0.81 in all patients, r = -0.046, P = 0.68 in subgroup without DPN, r = -0.003, P = 0.97 in subgroup with DPN). DPN, Diabetic peripheral neuropathy; Epo, Erythropoietin; Hb, hemoglobin.

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