Predisposing Factors of Diabetic Foot Amputation among the Diabetic Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background and Aim: Diabetic patients have a 15 to 20 time’s higher risk of amputation than non-diabetic patients.In literature, many factors have been mentioned which affect diabetic foot prevalence and its treatment amongdiabetic patients. Present study was directed to recognize those factors. Identification of those factors would helpto bring down the financial burden over patients and healthcare centers.Material and Methods: Present cross-sectional study was conducted among the diabetic (diabetes type Ⅱ) patients whocame with problems relevant with diabetic foot in the surgical outpatient department of tertiary care institute of India for theduration of 6 months. Three hundred Patients were categorized into two categories based on the treatment advised to them.One category of patients was treated through amputation whereas, other category of patients was treated with antibiotics andwound dressings. A self-structured questionnaire was built to collect the required data from patients. Chi-square was appliedto identify any association.Results: From the total of 300 patients 78 (26%) were advised amputation, whereas, 22 (74%) patients weremanaged conservatively. The correlation between diabetic foot amputation and various factors which includedgender, socioeconomic status, diet modification, blood sugar monitoring, life style, therapy type, smoking(p=0.02), ischemic heart disease, peripheral neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease (p=0.001) was statisticallysignificant.Conclusion: The incidence of foot amputation was high among the patients who had male gender, lowereducational status, lower socioeconomic status, longer duration of diabetes, no diet change, no proper blood sugarmonitoring, sedentary type of life style, inadequate therapy, poor compliance with treatment, history of smoking,hypertension, ischemic heart disease, stroke, peripheral neuropathy, and peripheral arterial disease and thesefactors were correlated with incidence of diabetic foot amputation significantly except duration of diabetes.