Association between Manual Dexterity and Domain Specific Cognition in Subjects with Diabetic Polyneuropathy

Abstract

Introduction: Type 2 Diabetes is a global concern resulting from longstanding hyperglycaemia. One of its major complication is diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN). This study aimed to understand if any relationship exists between manual dexterity and domains of cognition in DPN patients. Objectives: To assess manual dexterity and domain specific cognition and to evaluate the association between manual dexterity measure and domain specific cognition score in subjects with DPN. Methods: 64 subjects both male and female (35-75 years) diagnosed with DPN were included. Nine Hole Peg Test for assessing manual dexterity and Montreal Cognitive assessment for assessing domain specific cognition are used as outcome measures. Results: A statistically significant but weak correlation between dexterity and Forward Digit Span (r=0.310) (p=0.013) was found. Delayed recall domain (r=-0.97) (p=0.44) showed inverse correlation with dominant hand dexterity. Statistically significant but weak correlation was found between non-dominant hand dexterity and the domains of Forward Digit Span(r=0.33) (p=0.007), Backward Digit Span (r=0.266) (p=0.034), and Sentence Repetition (r=0.243) (p=0.053). Majority of patients demonstrated intact cognition in Naming Domain (76.6%) (N=49), Forward Digit Span (64.1%) (N=41), Backward Digit Span (75%) (N=48), Abstraction Domain (98.4%) (N= 63) and Orientation Domain (64.1%) (N=41). Conclusions: The results imply that all domains of cognition are not affected. There was no significant association between manual dexterity of dominant and non-dominant hand indicating that dexterity may be independent of cognitive domain in patients with DPN.