Is lower cholesterol linked to peripheral neuropathy?

Lowering serum cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes may be associated with peripheral neuropathy, a study suggests.
The hypothesis-generating research is believed to be the first to visualise in vivo that low cholesterol levels are associated with peripheral nerve damage, the authors say.
In the single-centre, prospective cross-sectional study in Germany, 100 patients with type 2 diabetes (mean age 65) underwent MRI of the right leg to quantify the diameter of various nerves and a lesion load, the researchers reported in JAMA Network Open.
Findings from 64Â patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy in at least two different nerves were compared with those from 36 patients with type 2 diabetes but no neuropathy.