A Study to Assess the Risk of Peripheral Neuropathy among Diabetic Clients with a View to Develop an Informational Booklet in Selected Hospitals in Guwahati, Assam

Background of the study: Diabetic peripheral neuropathies are a variety of syndromes which affect sensory, autonomic and motor nerve function. It is estimated that globally 220 million people will have diabetes, and epidemiological studies estimate that more than 50% of diabetic patient with a 25 years history will develop diabetic peripheral neuropathies. Objectives: To assess the risk of Peripheral Neuropathy among Diabetic clients. Methods: A descriptive survey research design was adopted, 50 samples of Diabetic clients either in-patient or out-patient department in Rahman Hospitals Pvt. Ltd, Guwahati, Assam were recruited as sample of the study using non probability purposive sampling technique. Result: Chi-square test shows thatthere was a significant association between risk of peripheral neuropathy with selected demographic variables like education, nature of work, current treatment and no significant association with respect to age, gender, marital status, occupation, religion, type of family, area of living, socio-economic status per capita (According to Prasad?s Scale 2019), smoking, alcohol, advice received on self care. There was a significant association between risk of peripheral neuropathy with selected clinical variables like family history of diabetes and no significant association with respect to duration of diabetes, use of injection (insulin) medication, oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHA), use of anti-hypertensive medication, current blood sugar level (FBS, PPBS, HBA1C), thyroid, blood pressure, BMI, presence of diabetic wound, co-morbidity. There was a significant association between risk of peripheral neuropathy with selected demographic variables like nature of work and no significant association with respect to age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, religion, type of family, area of living, socio economic status per capita (According to Prasad?s scale 2019), current treatment, smoking, alcohol, advice received on self-care. There was a significant association between risk of peripheral neuropathy with selected clinical variables like PPBS, co-morbidity and no significant association with respect to duration of diabetes, use of injection (insulin) medication, oral hypoglycemic agents (OHA), use of Anti-hypertensive medication, current blood sugar level (FBS, HBA1C), thyroid, blood pressure, BMI, presence of diabetic wound, family history of diabetes. Conclusion: The study revealed that, Risk of Peripheral Neuropathy among Diabetic clients had low risk, moderate risk and high risk Therefore, there is need of treatment and awareness to prevent from further consequences.