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Only 1 in 5 patients with diabetes has ‘good’ foot care

Only about one in five patients with diabetic foot diseases in Turkey engaged in what researchers called “good” foot care, according to findings published in Primary Care Diabetes.

“Foot care has been found to be effective in reducing the risk of neuropathy, foot ulcers and infections," Fatma Ylmaz Karada, MD, PhD, from the department of infectious diseases and clinical microbiology at Istanbul Medeniyet University, and colleagues wrote.

“Foot self-care should be taken seriously and seen as an ongoing process by patients. Optimal care for diabetic foot is likely to be the most cost-effective method, especially in resource-limited regions. Therefore, both patients and health care providers should be aware of the advantages of proper foot care and must increase their knowledge regarding foot self-care,” they added.

Researchers surveyed 1,030 patients (mean age, 57.73 years; 547 men) with diabetic foot disease on their daily foot washing and drying, daily foot examination, footwear and proper nail care habits.

They found that 20.8% of the patients had “good” foot care, 49.6% had “moderate” foot care and 29.5% of patients had bad foot care.

Karada provided a workflow for primary care physicians who have patients with diabetic foot diseases to reverse the trend identified in the study.

“Firstly, PCPs should provide information about foot care to patients with diabetes. Secondly, the PCPs should examine the feet of diabetic patients once a year. If the patient has neuropathy, he should perform foot examination twice a year and if he has peripheral arterial disease two to four times a year,” she told Healio Primary Care. – by Janel Miller

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.