Environmental Factors Associated With Peripheral Neuropathies in French Guiana (YANANER)

January 6, 2026 updated by: Admin CIC
Peripheral neuropathies (PN) affect 1% of the global population, particularly the elderly. About 20-30% of cases remain unexplained. In French Guiana, we hypothesize that factors like neurotoxic traditional plant remedies, arboviral disease outbreaks, and mercury exposure from illegal gold mining may contribute to PN. The study aims to assess the association between PN and exposure to arboviral infections, heavy metals, and plant consumption in French Guiana.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Peripheral neuropathies (PN) affect 1% of the global population, with higher prevalence in the elderly. They lead to gait disorders and chronic pain, severely impacting quality of life. Despite thorough investigations, 20-30% of cases have no identified cause. In French Guiana, unique factors may contribute to these neuropathies, including the use of potentially neurotoxic traditional plant remedies and outbreaks of arboviral diseases, which can complicate conditions like Guillain-Barré syndrome. Additionally, illegal gold mining exposes residents to mercury, both directly and through environmental contamination. We hypothesize that these local factors might explain the unidentified cases of PN and exacerbate neuropathies in patients with pre-existing nerve vulnerability, such as diabetic neuropathy.

This is a prospective multicenter case-control study being conducted in hospitals in Cayenne and Saint-Laurent du Maroni. At the inclusion visit, blood samples will be taken to assess arbovirus serology, particularly for Zika, Chikungunya and Dengue, as well as to measure levels of heavy metals, including mercury and lead. In addition, urine and hair samples will be taken to analyze these heavy metals. Participants will also fill in a questionnaire about their plant consumption.

They will not be followed as part of the research.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

78

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • For the Case group: patients diagnosed with diabetic peripheral neuropathy or chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy
  • For the Control group: patients hospitalized or consulting at the hospitals in Cayenne and Saint-Laurent du Maroni, without peripheral neuropathy.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • For the Case and Control groups: patients under the age of 18, those who object to participation and those who are unable to complete the questionnaire.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Control group
Patients hospitalised or consulting at hospitals in Cayenne and Saint-Laurent du Maroni who do not have peripheral neuropathy.
Other: Case Group
Patients diagnosed with diabetic peripheral neuropathy or chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Comparison of exposure rates among cases and controls
Time Frame: At inclusion

The primary endpoint will be the comparison of rates of exposure to arboviruses, heavy metals and consumption of potentially neurotoxic plants in cases and controls.

The heavy metals assay and the questionnaire will be carried out at the inclusion visit.
At inclusion

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Genetic mutations indentification
Time Frame: At inclusion
Secondary endpoint will be identification of genetic mutations responsible for peripheral neuropathy
At inclusion
Peripheral Nerve Disability (PND) determination
Time Frame: At inclusion
Secondary endpoint will be determination of Peripheral Nerve Disability (PND)
At inclusion

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Admin CIC

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Mathieu NACHER, Centre Hospitalier de Cayenne

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

December 8, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

July 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 6, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 6, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 15, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 6, 2026

Last Verified

July 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • YANANER

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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