Anxiety, depression and sleep disorders in patients with diabetic neuropathic pain: a systematic review

Introduction: Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is a disabling complication suffered by patients with diabetic neuropathy. DNP coexists with different conditions, especially mental and sleep disorders, which seem to impair the management and course of the disease. However, there is a lack of accurate results about their prevalence. Consequently, the authors analyze the prevalence of anxiety, depression and/or sleep disorders in DND patients. Areas covered: Among the 206 articles found in the search, 8 studies with data from 5 different countries fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of anxiety reported ranged between 7.8%-60.4% and that of depression between 13.6%- 50.6%. The two conditions coexist in 26.4%-30.6% in DND patients. A higher prevalence was found when the information was obtained using scales than when it came from medical records. The prevalence of sleep disorders found ranged from 41.6%-43.8%. However, there is lack of information about and the results are often expressed using the mean scores of the scales. Expert opinion: Although the data in the literature vary, a high prevalence of anxiety, depression and sleep comorbidities exists among patients with DNP. These results reaffirm the need to perform systematic evaluations and to identity their presence using validated instruments to obtain more reliable results.