| Peripheral neuropathy affects 1 in 5 persons over 50 years of age. Peripheral neuropathy can lead to infection, injury, and death. The first step toward improving outcomes associated with peripheral neuropathy among the elderly is to discover to what extent these individuals realize they have the condition.;Forty-four subjects over age 50 completed a questionnaire about lower extremity sensation loss and then were tested for peripheral neuropathy using readily available, handheld equipment. Subjective reports of sensation losses were compared to examiner findings. There was a fair agreement rate between the examiner and the youngest groups of subjects. Responses of the eldest subjects were in the least agreement with the findings of the examiner. Findings suggest that different age groupings of subjects respond to different aspects of sensation loss. Tuning fork and monofilament were generally the best predictors of subjective symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. |
