Peripheral Neuropathy in Older People Is Associated with Reduced Life Expectancy

Frank H. Lawler; James W. Mold; Xiaolan Liao; David E. Bard

doi:10.3122/jabfm.2022.220306R1

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Figure 1.
A path diagram of the hypothesized mediation model. Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index.
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Figure 2.
Kaplan-Meier survival for subjects with and without peripheral neuropathy (PN).

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Table 1.

Variables Potentially Associated with Peripheral Neuropathy (PN)

	Total	PN	No PN
Characteristic	n = 799	n = 258 (32%)	n = 538 (68%)	P Value
Age categories				<0.0001
64-74	465 (58%)	125 (27%)	337 (73%)
75-84	288 (36%)	107 (37%)	181 (63%)
85+	46 (6%)	26 (57%)	20 (43%)
Age (mean/SD)	74.1 (5.9)	75.7 (6.2)	73.4 (5.6)	<0.0001
Gender				0.015
Men	346 (43%)	124 (36%)	219 (64%)
Women	453 (57%)	134 (30%)	319 (70%)
Height (mean/SD)	65.4 (3.9)	66.1 (4.0)	65.1 (3.8)	0.0005
Body-mass index (mean/SD)	28.6 (5.6)	29.7 (6.4)	28.1 (5.1)	0.0005
Race				0.56
White	705 (88%)	230 (33%)	472 (67%)
Non-White	94 (12%)	28 (30%)	66 (70%)
Marital status				0.17
Married	522 (64%)	160 (31%)	360 (69%)
Other	277 (36%)	98 (36%)	178 (64%)
Income (annual)				0.047
<$15,001	138 (18%)	56 (41%)	82 (59%)
$15,001-$35,000	341 (44%)	116 (34%)	222 (66%)
>$35,000	288 (38%)	77 (27%)	211 (73%)
Education				0.035
<High school	120 (15%)	46 (38%)	74 (62%)
High school	210 (26%)	54 (26%)	156 (74%)
>High school	469 (59%)	158 (34%)	308 (66%)
Current alcohol intake				0.59
None	603 (75%)	200 (33%)	401 (67%)
1 to 5 per week	140 (18%)	44 (31%)	96 (69%)
6 to 10 per week	35 (4%)	10 (29%)	25 (71%)
>10 per week	21 (3%)	4 (20%)	16 (80%)
Vision loss				0.055
Yes	694 (88%)	215 (31%)	479 (69%)
No	93 (12)	38 (41%)	55 (59%)
Hearing loss				0.012
Yes	689 (87%)	213 (31%)	476 (69%)
No	104 (13%)	45 (43%)	59 (57%)
Cigarette smoking				0.48
Yes	61 (8%)	17 (28%)	43 (72%)
No	738 (92%)	241 (33%)	495 (67%)
Self-rated health				0.0013
Poor	10 (1%)	4 (40%)	6 (60%)
Fair	125 (16%)	53 (42%)	72 (58%)
Good	317 (40%)	115 (37%)	200 (63%)
Very good	282 (35%)	71 (25%)	211 (75%)
Excellent	63 (8%)	14 (22%)	48 (77%)
History of diabetes				<0.0001
Yes	133 (17%)	66 (50%)	67 (50%)
No	666 (83%)	193 (29%)	471 (71%)
History of B12 deficiency				0.022
Yes	41 (5%)	20 (49%)	21 (51%)
No	758 (95%)	238 (32%)	517 (68%)
History of hereditary PN				0.0007
Yes	11 (2%)	12 (71%)	5 (29%)
No	782 (98%)	246 (32%)	533 (68%)
Timed gait n = 776	17.1 (6.9)	18.5 (8.6)	16.5 (5.9)	0.0009
Tinetti balance score (mean/SD)	13.9 (2.9)	12.8 (3.6)	14.4 (2.4)	<0.0001

Abbreviation: SD, standard deviation.

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Table 2.

Cox Proportional Hazards Model for Survival Time for Subjects with Peripheral Neuropathy versus Those without Peripheral Neuropathy

Independent Variables	Hazard Ratio (CI 95%)	Chi-Square	P Value
Age	1.066 (1.051, 1.082)	78.9	<0.0001
Sex (men)	1.62 (1.35, 1.95)	25.9	<0.0001
Married	0.78 (0.641, 0.948)	6.21	0.013
Self-rated health	0.59 (0.480, 0.725)	25.2	<0.0001
Cigarette use	1.48 (1.11, 1.987)	7.01	0.0062
Peripheral neuropathy	1.27 (1.06, 1.52)	7.05	0.0086
Balance score	0.941 (0.906, 0.978)	25.2	0.0001
Health*survival time	1.026 (1.009, 1.043)	9.08	0.0026