Study: Initial Diabetic Foot Ulcer Severity Predictive Of Alarming Mortality In Veterans

There is some sobering new data from a study in the Journal of Diabetes Complications. The initial severity of a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a significant predictor for patient mortality, making DFU severity more of a warning sign for death than peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease or stroke.¹

The study, published online, surveyed 66,323 veterans who had diabetic foot ulcers from 2006 to 2010.¹ The follow-up period was until patient death or 2012. The authors found one-, two- and five-year survival rates were 80 percent, 69 percent and 28 percent respectively.

I think the reason these data are so sobering is because the "hole" is a window on the "whole." In other words, the ulcer on the foot is likely a better predictor than any of the other problems, such as vascular disease, because it is an amalgam of all of those complications in one place—at the end of the body.

Reference

1. Brennan MB, Hess TM, Bartle B, et al. Diabetic foot ulcer severity predicts mortality among veterans with type 2 diabetes. J Diabetes Complications. 2016; in press. Available at https://www.jdcjournal.com/article/S1056-8727(16)30997-7/abstract .