AbstractBackground: Foot and ankle dysfunction secondary to peripheral nerve damage is the most common microvascular complication in individuals with diabetes mellitus. Purpose: This study aimed to perform a systematic review and quantitative content analysis of articles emphasizing Quality of life (QoL) in people with Diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP) and Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN). Materials and Methods: The extracted data about every study included: journal, year of publication, number of authors, country of manuscript origin, goal of article (evaluation or intervention or both), subtypes of evaluation (tool development or measurement of QoL or multiple tools or mixed) and intervention (medical, surgical, or allied health), population characteristics (homogeneous or heterogeneous), type of article (original or review) which was further subclassified under study designs and respective Center for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) levels of evidence. Results: Descriptive analysis showed more number of QoL articles: from Diabetes Care; with more than three authors; published in the year 2008; originated from USA; on evaluation; on heterogeneous population; more original articles; and more articles with levels 4 or 5 evidence. Conclusion: The study findings provided a content analysis and synthesized findings from articles published on QoL in population with PDPN or DPNP, and the predominance of evaluation studies was evident, with inter-measure analyses, and more number of articles on medical management among the intervention studies. Levels of evidence for most of the articles were low, and there is need for future high quality studies and reporting standards in articles for effective evidence-informed foot and ankle rehabilitation in people with PDPN.
Keywords: Evidence-based diabetes care; Diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain; Foot and ankle dysfunction; Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy.