Individuals with type 1 diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes are at a high risk of having a foot or leg amputated. To estimate the risks of amputations among diabetics, researchers from Sweden followed 31,354 men and women with type 1 diabetes for nearly 30 years. The researchers recorded the incidence of non-traumatic lower-extremity amputations among the participants. A total of 465 participants had a lower-extremity amputation that was not due to an injury or other traumatic event. When compared to the general population, the risk for non-traumatic lower-extremity amputation was found to be significantly higher among patients with type 1 diabetes. The probability of lower-extremity amputation by age 65 years for people with type 1 diabetes was 11 percent for women and 20 percent for men. Diabetic foot ulcers were noted to be the most common first indicator of impending lower-extremity amputations related to diabetes. The researchers noted that patients diagnosed with this disease before 31 years of age have strikingly high risks of non-traumatic lower-extremity amputations. Although the above findings suggest that due to improved health care facilities across the globe, the risk of amputations for type 1 diabetics have slightly decreased in the recent years, there is still need for better measures to prevent non-traumatic lower-extremity amputations early in the course of type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes Care
August 2008