Risk Scale for Patients with Newly Diagnosed Diabetic Foot Ulcer - Which Patients May Experience Healing Failure or Need Revascularization

Abstract

BackgroundThe healing process of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) is associated with the risk of life-threatening complications. The aim of the study was to establish the most important risk factors which have an impact on the healing process. MethodsThe retrospective analysis was conducted on patients with diagnosed T2DM and newly diagnosed DFU. The observation lasted 12 months and the primary outcome was complete healing of the wounds, the secondary outcome was defined as a need for vascular intervention of the lower extremity (VI) or the occurrence of a new wound (NW). The data examined with a chi2 test analysis of the odds ratio in the SAS 9.4 program. Results64 patients cases (13 women and 51 men) with mean weight (101.48kgs (±22.4)), age (60.59 years old (±9.14)) were analyzed. The mean baseline area of the patient's wounds was 7.75cm2 (±16.46). The primary outcome was achieved by 42.19% (n=27). The NW occurred among 39.06% (n=25), and 21.88% (n=14) needed VI. The patients with the area of all wounds bigger than 5cm2 have a higher risk of having unhealed wounds (OR=7.58, p<0.05). Additionally, diagnosed anemia or cigarette smoking on the first visit was associated with a higher risk of NW (OR=9.5, p<0.05 and OR=3.8, p<0.05). None of the analyzed factors had an impact on the risk of VI. ConclusionsThe simple characterization of wounds and patients can be useful in estimating of risk of having an unhealed wound or the occurrence of a new wound 12 months after the first visit.