Hidden crisis: the hourly toll of diabetic foot loss
Amputation rates in Australia are among the highest in the OECD, say diabetes specialists
3rd October 2018
Diabetes specialists are calling for urgent improvement to diabetic foot care, given Australia’s startlingly high amputation rate.
Every two hours in Australia, a limb — usually a foot — is amputated from a patient with diabetes, the second-highest rate among OECD countries, they write in a Medical Journal of Australia commentary.
Researchers and clinicians behind the national diabetes-related foot disease strategy, released last year and led by Diabetic Foot Australia co-founder Dr Peter Lazzarini (PhD), say investment is needed to “finally act on one of our least known