Anxiety affects disability and quality of life in patients with painful diabetic neuropathy

Background Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is known to negatively affect psychosocial functioning as expressed by enhanced levels of anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to specify diabetes and pain-related fears. MethodsThis questionnaire-based cross-sectional study included 154 patients with PDN (mean age 65.76.6years). Correlation analyses corrected for age, gender, pain intensity, pain duration and insulin treatment were performed to assess the associations of fear of hypoglycaemia (Hypoglycaemia Fear Survey, HFS), kinesiophobia (Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia, TSK), fear of pain (Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale, PASS-20), fear of falling (Falls Efficacy Scale-I, FES-I), fear of fatigue (Tampa Scale of Fatigue, TSF) and fear of negative evaluation (Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, BFNE), with quality of life (QoL) (Norfolk Quality of Life Questionnaire, Diabetic Neuropathy Version, QOL-DN) and disability (Pain Disability Index, PDI), respectively. ResultsIn univariate analyses, all fears were independently associated with QOL-DN and PDI (p