Association between mid-upper arm circumference and SUDOSCAN risk score in predicting cardiac autonomic neuropathy in diabetic patients

Objective：To investigate the association between mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) and risks of diabetic cardiac autonomic neuropathy (DCAN) measured by SUDOSCAN CAN risk score in a Chinese community population. Methods：A total of 316 type 2 diabetes patients were enrolled from the 2nd Road of Shimen Community Health Center in Jing’an District of Shanghai between May 2018 and August 2018. All participants received MUAC measurement and SUDOSCAN examination. The association between MUAC and SUDOSCAN CAN risk score was evaluated in male and female patients by using Spearman rank correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis. Results：There were 149 males and 167 females in the total enrolled subjects. Patients with higher SUDOSCAN CAN risk score had longer MUAC in females (P<0.01), but there was no statistical difference of MUAC between the high and low SUDOSCAN CAN risk score groups in males. With the increase of MUAC, the SUDOSCAN CAN risk score was increased significantly in females (P<0.05), but did not differ significantly in males. The multivariate linear regression analysis revealed that MUAC was still related to the SUDOSCAN CAN risk score in females (P=0.026) after adjusting potential related factors of DCAN. However, this correlation was not found in males. Conclusions：MUAC is significantly associated with SUDOSCAN CAN risk score among female type 2 diabetes patients in the community, which is of great value for early detection of DCAN.