Black patients with a diabetic foot ulcer are more likely to have a lower limb amputated earlier than non-Hispanic White counterparts, a new study finds.
The same review of data for more than 643,000 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with DFU between 2012 and 2017 also found men were more likely to have an amputation sooner than women.
Researcher Shane R. Wurdeman of the Hanger Institute for Clinical Research and Education and colleagues theorized disparities resulted from non-Black populations having better access to “conservative wound management techniques.”
“The decision to amputate may be influenced more by other unexplained underlying variables as race/ethnicity independently persists as a significant factor even while controlling for other sociodemographic variables,” the researchers reported in Diabetes Care in late September.
Delayed amputation among women aligned with evidence from Sweden that women were more likely to have a proximal level amputation at later ages. Researchers believe amputation could be delayed until minor amputation isn’t viable.
From the November 2022 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
