Frequency of Diabetes Foot Ulcer and Related Factors Among Adult Diabetic Patients in the Diabetes Center of Kerman, Iran

Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) as one of the main complications of diabetes mellitus has serious outcomes such as infection, foot amputation, low quality of life, and premature death.

This study was conducted to assess the DFU prevalence and its related factors among diabetic patients.

The population of this cross-sectional study included adult diabetic patients in the Diabetes Center of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. The data were recorded in a questionnaire using patients’ medical records, interviews with them, and physical examination. The collected data were imported to SPSS version 22 software and analyzed.

Of 400 diabetic patients enrolled in the study, 69% (n = 276) were female. The mean (± SD) of their age was 57.1 (± 11.9) years and 72% (n = 288) were younger than 65. The frequency of DFU during the total course of the disease and its annual prevalence were 17.3% (n = 69) and 11.8% (n = 49) among diabetic patients, respectively. More than one-third (37.7%) of the DFU patients and 6.6% of all the patients were admitted to a hospital due to DFU. Major or minor amputation was performed for 14.5% (n = 10) of the total DFU patients and 2.5% of the total patients. Having diabetes-related complications was determined as the strongest predictor of DFU (OR = 7.016, 95% CI = 2.67 - 18.38), followed by smoking (OR = 3. 80, 95% CI = 2.06 - 6.99) and age over 64 years (OR = 3.70, 95% CI = 1.299 - 10.568).

The frequency of DFU was high among diabetic patients attending the Diabetes Center of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Also, hospital admission and foot amputation due to DFU had a considerable frequency. Therefore, there is a crucial need to improve the quality of foot care services and emphasize foot self-care as essential components of diabetes self-management at all levels of the health service delivery system to decrease the risk of DFU.