Reuters | Poor Footwear Ups Diabetes-Related Amputation Risk

Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among people with diabetes (Fact Sheet), wearing inadequate footwear triples the risk of lower-leg amputation, according to a report from Barbados.

Prompted by anecdotal reports of high rates of diabetes-related amputation rates in the Caribbean, Dr. Anselm J. M. Hennis from University of the West Indies in Bridgetown, Barbados, and colleagues investigated the situation there.

The overall rate of lower-extremity amputation among people with diabetes was 936 per 10,000 patients, the authors report in the medical journal Diabetes Care. That rate is three times higher than for similar Caribbean migrants to the UK.

The risk of undergoing a lower-leg amputation risk was nearly tripled by going barefoot (in men), doubled by wearing sneakers regularly to work (in women), increased fourfold by wearing sneakers to town, and doubled by wearing rubber thong sandals, the investigators report.

Wearing fashion shoes was also linked to a fourfold increased risk of amputation.

Click Title to read full article.


SOURCE: Diabetes Care, November 2004.