Needed: A Prevention Strategy To Stop Amputations Among Minority Populations Living With Complex Diabetes

Allyson Y. Schwartz, Jon Bloom, M.D.

 

Lower limb amputations are devastating for people living with diabetes, particularly for Black Americans facing poor access to comprehensive care. A coordinated, data-driven national prevention strategy is the only way to curb this growing epidemic for all at-risk populations … When President Joe Biden rightly called out the unsustainably high price of insulin in his 2022 State of the Union Address, he wasn’t saying anything new for most industry observers. Rising insulin prices have been the subject of national conversation for years, and the push for a reasonable cap on out-of-pocket expenses has been a perennial rallying point among providers and patient advocates … Capping insulin costs is an important step, but it is just a start if we are going to stop people living with early diabetes from experiencing a worsening of their condition … The statistics and the people behind those numbers demand greater attention, smarter care, and a life free of the serious consequences of uncontrolled, complex diabetes … Consider these numbers. More than 37 million people are living with diabetes in the United States — and a further 96 million individuals have prediabetes … read more