Aims: To determine the prevalency of risk factors for diabetic foot complications in diabetic patients free of active ulceration in a hospital setting and to investigate the knowledge of foot care of the patients.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on a cohort of 296 patients with diabetes hospitalized in a tertiary hospital. A convenience sampling was adopted to recruit subjects during 2012/2013. All completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire and underwent medical assessment including foot examination and assessment of presence of peripheral sensory neuropathy (PSN) and peripheral arterial disease (PVD). The patients were assigned to a foot risk category which was developed by the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF).
Results: 296 inpatients were evaluated. Foot deformity was noticed in 124 patients (42%), hallux valgus was the most prevalent abnormality, found in 65% of patients. Prevalency of neuropathy hypertension, nephropathy and retinopathy were 66.2%, 57.1%, 48.3% and 44.9% respectively. 37 (12.5%) patients had a history of ulceration (n = 33) and/or toe amputation (n = 4). According to the classification system of the IWGDF, 35.1% of patients were considered as having low-risk by the modified IWGDF classification (group 0), and 49% of the study population were at high risk for pedal ulceration (group 2 and 3). There was a clear trend between the increasing severity of the staging and HbA1c, duration of diabetes, prevalence of hypertension, nephropathy and retinopathy and absent of physical activity. The mean knowledge score of foot care was 21.21±3.84.
Conclusion: The risk factors for foot ulceration and lack of fool care knowledge was rather common in a hospital-based diabetic population, emphasizing the importance of implementing simple and affordable screening tools and methods to identify high-risk patients and providing foot care education for them.
Keywords: Diabetic foot; foot care; foot screening; risk factors.