How common is peripheral neuropathy among autoimmune disease patients?

Many systemic autoimmune diseases impact the nervous system. One of the most common neurological complications of autoimmune disease is peripheral neuropathy, which involves damage to the peripheral nervous system that connects the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body.

Symptoms of peripheral neuropathy include numbness, weakness, sensory paresthesias, gait imbalance, and pain. They are commonly observed in patients with autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), scleroderma, vasculitis, Sjogren's, inflammatory bowel disease, and type I diabetes.

For patients with SLE, 25-50% were found to exhibit neuropathy based on nerve conduction parameters. In scleroderma, 5-67% of cases were complicated by polyneuropathy. In Churg-Strauss, a form of vasculitis, peripheral neuropathy was estimated to affect 50-80% of patients. In a recent study on primary Sjogren's, it was found that 72% of patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for neuropathy, with carpal tunnel (54%) and axonal sensorimotor neuropathy (22%) being the most common manifestations. Peripheral neuropathy was also observed in patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and is thought to be more common than previously estimated. In type I diabetes, up to 30% of patients were found to have peripheral neuropathy after 13-14 years of disease progression.

The Autoimmune Registry recently partnered with the Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy, whose mission is to improve the lives of those affected by peripheral neuropathy through awareness, education, advocacy, and research to advance the discovery of new therapies and cures. To learn more, please visit www.foundationforpn.org.

To learn more about autoinflammatory diseases, check out ARI's blog post on the Global Genes website. To support the Autoimmune Registry, please join our registry or share it with others with autoimmune diseases. Donations are also greatly appreciated!