Prevalence and Risk Factors of Diabetic Foot Problems in Taiwan
A cross-sectional survey of non-type 1 diabetic patients from a nationally representative sample
- Chin-Hsiao Tseng, MD, PHD
- From the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; the National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; and the Division of Environmental Health and Occupational Medicine of the National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan
- Address correspondence to Chin-Hsiao Tseng, MD, PhD, Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, 7 Chung-Shan South Rd., Taipei, Taiwan. E-mail: ccktsh{at}ms6.hinet.net
About half of all nontraumatic lower extremity amputations are performed on diabetic patients (1,2), and foot ulcers precede 71–84% of all lower extremity amputations (3,4). In the Caucasian population, 15% of diabetic patients will develop a foot ulcer during their lifetime (5), and 6–43% of diabetic patients with a foot ulcer will eventually progress to lower extremity amputation (3,4,6). To this author’s knowledge, there has not been any …
