George NS, et al. - The researchers ascertained the esophageal motor characteristics of diabetic compared to nondiabetic patients who presented with dysphagia. Some type of an esophageal motility disorder was found in nearly half of the diabetic patients with dysphagia. Among diabetic patients, diabetic retinopathy and the use of insulin were predictive of esophageal motor abnormalities.

• The researchers included high-resolution esophageal manometries (HREMs) of 83 diabetic patients and 83 age and gender-matched nondiabetic patients with dysphagia from 2 medical centers in this study.
• They recorded demographic information, medical comorbidities, and medication usage for each patient in a single registry.
• They evaluated HREM of each patient and recorded the different functional parameters.

• The researchers observed an esophageal motor disorder in 46% of diabetic patients.
• As compared with nondiabetic patients, diabetic patients with dysphagia were more inclined to have failed swallows on HREM (50.6% vs. 33.7%; P=0.03).
• Failed (69.0% vs. 40.7%; P=0.01) and weak (65.5% vs. 33.3%; P=0.005) swallows were frequently observed in diabetic patients treated with insulin as compared with diabetic patients not on insulin.
• Demonstration of diabetic retinopathy (27.0% vs. 8.7%; P=0.04) was more likely among diabetic patients with abnormal manometry.
• As compared with nondiabetic patients, they found a trend toward increased incidence of esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction in diabetic patients (10.8% vs. 2.4%; P=0.057).