Test of sympathetic skin response in patients with diabetes mellitus

[Objective] To study the injuries of peripheral sympathetic nerves in patients with T2DM(Type 2 diabetes mellitus).[Methods] SSR(Sympathetic skin response) was tested in extremities of 61 T2DM patients and 50 healthy controls.[Results] The initial latencies of SSR in upper limbs and lower limbs were prolonged significantly in T2DM group as compared to the control group [upper limbs:T2DM group(1385.3±246.7) ms,control group:(1361.2±123.2)ms,P0.001;lower limbs:T2DM group(1858.9±527.5)ms,control group:(1742.8±225.2)ms,P0.05].There were no significant differences in Amplitudes of SSR between the two groups(P0.05).The abnormal rate of SSR was 41% in T2DM group,17% in upper limbs,41% in lower limbs.The abnormal rate in lower limbs was significantly higher than in upper limbs(P0.001).[Conclusion] SSR is an objective method to detect injuries of sympathetic nerves in patients with diabetes mellitus.The method is simple and harmless.SSR can be used as a routine electrophysiological test in diabetic patients.