Static balance in patients presenting diabetes mellitus type 2 with and without diabetic polyneuropathy

Objectives: To contrast the static balance in patients presenting diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) with and without polyneuropathy (DPN); and to correlate the rates from the scale Diabetic Neuropathy Examination (DNE) with the mean ratio of the center of pressure (CoP). Subjects and methods: Twenty patients, aged between 40 and 54, presenting DM2 and classifed, according to DNE scale, in groups with (n = 10) and without (n = 10) DPN, were compared. Static balance was evaluated by means of the CoP mean ratio on a Wii Balance Board® under the conditions of open and closed eyes. After normality verifcation (Shapiro-Wilk), balance between both groups was compared by means of the Student t test and Mann-Whitney U test, as applicable. DNE rating was correlated with the mean ratio of CoP in the group with DPN, considering a significance level p < 0.05. Results: Significant differences (p = 0.049) were found under the condition of closed eyes, with greater CoP ratio in the group with DPN (0.548 cm vs. 0.442 cm). The group with DPN showed a tendency (p = 0.059) towards a greater CoP mean ratio under the open eyes condition (0.351 cm vs. 0.239 cm). There was a strong correlation (r = 0.751) between the DNE rating and the CoP mean ratio under the closed eyes condition (p = 0.012). Conclusions: Patients showing DPN demonstrated worse static balance than patients without DPN in the closed eyes condition. Furthermore, the higher the rating in DNE, the stronger the displacement of CoP, which may be associated with higher risk of falls.