Amputation risk up for Black, rural residents with diabetic foot ulcers

Rural patients identifying as Black have more than a 10 percent absolute increased risk for major leg amputation or death compared with the overall cohort of adult Medicare patients hospitalized with a diabetic foot ulcer, according to a study published online April 21 in JAMA Network Open … Meghan B. Brennan, M.D., from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and colleagues examined the associations of race, ethnicity, rurality, and/or neighborhood disadvantage with outcomes among U.S. patients with diabetic foot ulcers. The analysis included 124,487 patients hospitalized with diabetic foot ulcers (2013 to 2014) identified through the U.S. National Medicare Claims Data Database … read more