Peripheral and Autonomic Neuropathy in South Asians and White Caucasians with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Possible Explanations for Epidemiological Differences

Table 3

Assessing the impact of possible confounders on the association between ethnicity and DPN (based on MNSI) using logistic regression models with increasing complexity. The odds ratios reported are the odds for having DPN in White Caucasians to South Asians. BP: blood pressure; eGFR: estimated glomerular filtration rate; PVD: peripheral vascular disease; BMI: body mass index.

Model	Nagelkerke	Odds ratio	95% confidence interval	value
Unadjusted: ethnicity	0.035	1.930	1.182–3.149	0.009
Model 1: ethnicity + age + gender	0.091	1.684	1.016–2.793	0.043
Model 2: ethnicity + age + gender + alcohol intake + smoking + BP + diabetes duration + HbA1c + + TSH + eGFR + glucose lowering + anti + anti + lipid lowering	0.224	1.987	1.069–3.693	0.030
Model 3: Model 2 + PVD	0.237	1.887	1.008–3.530	0.047
Model 4: Model 3 + height	0.244	1.766	0.932–3.348	0.081
Model 5: Model 3 + BMI	0.279	1.169	0.581–2.352	0.661
Model 6: Model 3 + waist circumference	0.290	1.077	0.532–2.180	0.837
Model 7: Model 3 + neck circumference	0.278	1.087	0.528–2.237	0.822

for lipids included adjustment for total cholesterol, triglycerides, and HDL individually.
for glucose lowering treatments included adjustment for metformin, sulphonylurea, glitazones, DPP-4 inhibitors, insulin, and GLP-1 analogues individually. No other glucose lowering treatment was used in our study population.
for antihypertensives included adjustment for ACE inhibitors, angiotensin 2 blockers, beta blockers, alpha blockers, calcium antagonists, and diuretics individually.
platelets included aspirin and clopidogrel.
for lipid lowering therapy included adjustment for statins, ezetimibe, and fibrates individually.