Consistency Analysis Between SUDOSCAN Examinations and Electromyography Results in Patients with Diabetes

Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the consistency between SUDOSCAN examinations and electromyography (EMG) results in patients with diabetes.

Methods

A total of 326 patients with diabetes (201 males and 125 females) who were hospitalized in the endocrinology ward of the Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine (Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine) from June 2020 to February 2021 were selected as participants. All the patients were tested using a SUDOSCAN conductance analyzer for electrical skin conductivities and EMG for nerve conduction. The differences and consistencies between the results of the two examinations were analyzed. McNemar’s test was used to analyze the differences between the results, and Cohen’s kappa test was utilized to test the consistencies.

Results

A total of 174 patients had abnormal SUDOSCAN results, and 152 patients had normal SUDOSCAN results. The EMG results of 299 patients were abnormal, and the EMG results of 27 patients were normal. The McNemar test result was P = 0.000, and the differences between the results of the SUDOSCAN and EMG examinations were statistically significant (P < 0.01). No significant consistency was found between the SUDOSCAN and EMG results, meaning that the consistency between the two examination results was not statistically significant (P = 0.868, P > 0.05). The difference between the results was statistically significant (P < 0.05), and the consistency was poor (kappa = 0.005).

Conclusion

Differences existed between the SUDOSCAN examination and EMG results, and the results of the two examination methods were inconsistent, indicating that SUDOSCAN examinations cannot replace EMG examinations for DSPN.

Keywords:

• diabetes mellitus
• SUDOSCAN
• electromyogram
• consistency

Abbreviations

DPN, Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy; DSPN, Distal symmetric polyneuropathy; T1DM, Type 1 diabetes mellitus; T2DM, Type 2 diabetes mellitus; NCS, Nerve conduction examination; ESC, Electrical skin conductivities; WHO, World Health Organization; MCV, motor nerve conduction velocity; MNAP, motor nerve action potentials; SCV, sensory nerve conduction velocity; SNAP, sensory motor nerve action potentials.

Data Sharing Statement

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article. Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

I confirm that I have read the Editorial Policy pages. This study was conducted with approval from the Ethics Committee of Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the hard and dedicated work of all the staff that implemented the intervention and evaluation components of the study.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

There is no funding to report.