Results from a 2008 survey in China showed that the age-standardized prevalence of diabetes was 9.7% among adults aged 20 years and older. The World Health Organization estimates the economic cost of diabetes and related cardiovascular disease in China to be $557.7 billion between 2005 and 2015. More than 15% of people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer or gangrene at some point in their lives; amputation rates for diabetic feet are 40 times higher than for non-diabetic patients. The diabetic foot is the number one cause of amputation in many countries. One-third of the annual medical costs of diabetes in the United States are spent on the treatment of glycopathy foot disease. The medical cost of amputation is even higher, with an average cost of $25,000 in the United States and $43,000 in Sweden. The average hospital stay for diabetic foot in 14 tertiary hospitals in China was 26 days, with an average hospitalization cost of 15,000 yuan, about four times the average hospitalization cost for diabetes, and the average cost of treating a single foot ulcer for 2 years for outpatients was 28.000 USD.
USD. 6.5% of diabetic foot patients in the United States require amputation each year, more than 10 times the rate of non-diabetic patients. Approximately 50% of annual amputations are in diabetic patients, and more than 85% of the latter are due to deep infection or gangrene resulting from worsening ischemic ulcers in the lower extremity. The probability of having a diabetic foot-related lower extremity amputation is 40-50% within two years of the contralateral amputation. Some current information in China shows that the prevalence of diabetic foot is 2.3% in outpatient clinics and 8.6% in wards, with amputation rates as high as 17.3%, with more people over 50 years of age than younger people. In the United States, 86,000 patients are disabled by amputations due to diabetes each year; in our country, the number will be even higher. Some studies have shown that 62% of refractory foot ulcers are associated with vascular disease, and 46% of amputations are associated with vascular disease. However, not all diabetic foot patients will have their limbs amputated; active early and effective treatment is the best way to prevent amputation!