Evaluation of Vicarious Somatosensory Experience in Diabetes Mellitus: Bases for Empathy and Social Cognition

Abstract

Shaimaa Nasr Amin,1,2 Gehan El-Akabawy,3– 5 Layth Baker Saleh,6 Alhawraa Salem Sulaiman,6 Abdulfattah Ahmed Alsharif,6 Mohammed Ahmed Qamoum,6 Mohammad Basheer Fahmawi,6 Alaa Al-Matrouk,6 Hana Taha,7– 9 Ahmed A Ismail10,11 1Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan; 2Department of Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt; 3Department of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; 4Centre of Medical and Bioallied Health Sciences Research, Ajman University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates; 5Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt; 6House Officer, Medical Graduates Training Program, Jordan Medical Council, Amman, Jordan; 7Department of Pharmacology, Public Health and Clinical Skills, Faculty of Medicine, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan; 8Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan; 9Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; 10Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin Elkom, Egypt; 11Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Topeks, KS, USACorrespondence: Shaimaa Nasr Amin, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, the Hashemite University, PO Box 330127, Zarqa, 13133, Jordan, Tel [phone], Email [email protected]: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disorder with negative impacts on brain functions. Social cognition and vicarious experience impairments are features of DM. This research aimed to estimate the social cognition and vicarious experience among Jordanian people with diabetes.Patients and Methods: Cognitive abilities were assessed using the Vicarious Pain Questionnaire (VPQ) and the Mirror Touch Questionnaire (MTQ). Data on disease history, medications, routine laboratory measurements, and anthropometric indices.Results: Patients had lower pain responses and intensity scores, and higher unpleasantness scores than the control group (p < 0.05). Most of the VPQ and MTQ measures were mainly impaired among study participants who had higher education, were not practicing exercises, and were not consuming healthy diets (p < 0.05). The number of responses to the VPQ and average pain intensity were negatively correlated with age and positively correlated with both the serum aminotransferase (AST) concentration and the serum urea concentration (p < 0.05). The average unpleasantness score was positively correlated with the duration of therapy, serum creatinine, and albumin concentrations (p < 0.05). The final regression models for the number of pain responses and localized–generalized included group, practicing exercise, and AST, while the model for the average pain intensity included only the grouping variable. The model for average unpleasantness included grouping, AST, Albumin, consuming a healthy diet, and duration of therapy.Conclusion: The Jordanian diabetic patients who participated in the study had impaired social cognition and vicarious experience. A healthy lifestyle had a significant effect on the scores of the vicarious experience in addition to the level of education. Despite being the first study in Jordan to assess vicarious experience in DM, further studies are needed considering imaging and electrophysiological workup. Besides, further prospective studies are needed to determine the significance of the current study.Keywords: diabetes mellitus, social cognition, vicarious experience

Keywords

• diabetes mellitus
• social cognition
• vicarious experience