A recent online article at Global BC sheds light on the urgency of
diabetic foot disease. According to the article, diabetic foot disease has a higher rate of death than heart disease or cancer. Here's a bit from that article:
Nearly one third of diabetics who need a foot amputation will die within the next year, and two thirds will die within five years, according to data presented Thursday at the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) conference. This five-year mortality rate is higher than almost all cancers—except lung and pancreatic—and what’s just as shocking is that these diabetes-related foot wounds can be healed if treated effectively in time. But is this problem common? The CDA estimates that 15 per cent of Canadians with diabetes – over 400,000 people –will develop a foot ulcer in their lifetime. Contributing factors to the risk of foot ulcers for diabetics include nerve damage causing loss of sensation, which allows cuts or injuries to go unnoticed, and blockages in blood vessels as well as decreased immune function that make it hard for wounds to heal. Canadians with diabetes are 23 times more likely to need a limb amputation than those without the disease, and 85 per cent of those amputations are because of a foot ulcer that hasn’t healed, according to the CDA release. “Today, around the world, every five seconds someone develops diabetes. Every 10 seconds someone dies from diabetes and every 20 seconds there is a diabetic lower limb amputation,” said Dr. Perry Mayer in a release. Mayer is the medical director of The Mayer Institute (TMI), a centre in Ontario that specializes in advanced diabetes foot and wound care. Read it on Global News: Global BC | Healable diabetic foot disease has higher death rate than almost all cancers » Read the full article here
How to get help
In Colorado Springs, you can call 719-594-9920 to schedule a consultation with
Dr. Kerry Berg at Intermountain Foot & Ankle Associates to evaluate and treat foot disease.
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