Relevance of ankle reflex as a screening test for diabetic peripheral neuropathy

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this study is to find out if testing ankle reflex (AR) alone is an effective screening tool for diabetic peripheral neuropathy and the secondary objective of this study is to compare its sensitivity and specificity with biothesiometer vibration perception threshold (VPT), which is the gold standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 450 patients with diabetes mellitus attending endocrine out-patient department from year 2012 January to 2013 July were included in this study. All patients underwent clinical assessment of AR compared with VPT by biothesiometer. RESULTS: AR is sensitive (81.09%) specific (81.679%) with diagnostic accuracy of (81.22%) and agreement between biothesiometer and AR is significant (κ = 0.538 P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: AR is at par the gold standard that is biothesiometer VPT.