DOI: 10.36347/sasjm

Pages: 163-167

Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common complications associated with Diabetes Mellitus. There are a number of investigative tools in the vast armamentarium of neurophysiology to evaluate and detect dysfunction in varied nerve fibers so implicated in diabetes mellitus. Auditory and visual reaction time is one such test for measuring sensory motor association. This study was aimed at evaluating the effect of Diabetes Mellitus on reaction time and the correlation of this effect with the duration of the disease. The study sample consisted of 120 male participants in the age group 30-50 years and were categorized as healthy controls (n=30) and participants with Type II Diabetes Mellitus, further subdivided into 3 subgroups based on the duration of the disease, viz, 0-3, 3-6 and 6 and above years, each having 30 participants. Auditory Reaction time was measured for low pitch and high pitch sounds and visual reaction time was measured for red light and green light. It was observed that both the auditory and visual reaction time was significantly high in diabetic patients as compared to that observed in the controls. On further analysis, the elevation in reaction time seemed to be linearly correlated with the time course of the disease, wherein the elevation in auditory reaction time could be appreciated only in the later stages of the disease. Subclinical neuropathy could hence be defined and profiled through simple and non invasive neurophysiological means of reaction time that could influence and/or modify the disease process of diabetes mellitus