Abstract
Epidemiology of diabetic foot disorders in Saudi Arabia has not been well documented. We therefore performed a 1-year follow-up study to characterize the incidence of diabetic foot disorders, including peripheral arterial disease (PAD), peripheral neuropathy (PN), foot ulcer, gangrene, and amputation, among 556 diabetic patients in Saudi Arabia. All the disorders were diagnosed by standard objective diagnostic tools or diagnosed clinically by a specialized surgeon. Complication of foot ulcer (CFU) was defined as at least one of the following complications: foot ulcer, gangrene, and amputation. Diabetic foot disorder (DFD) was defined as at least one of the following complications: PAD, PN, foot ulcer, gangrene, and amputation. The 1-year cumulative incidence of PAD, PN, CFU, and DFD was 6.3, 9.2, 3.6, and 16.7 %, respectively. The 1-year cumulative incidence was 1.8 % for foot ulcer, 1.5 % for gangrene, and 0.6 % for amputation. Only one participant was diagnosed as more than one disorder. The longer duration of diabetes was associated with an increased incidence of PN and DFD. Relatively high incidences, as well as the duration of diabetes as the major risk factors for diabetic foot disorders were found in this Saudi population.