Diabetic Foot Complications and Mortality Risk

Diabetic foot complications encompass a spectrum of lower-limb disorders, from neuropathic and ischaemic ulcers to deep tissue infection, gangrene and amputation. These lesions arise from the interplay of peripheral neuropathy, impaired micro- and macrovascular perfusion and defective wound healing. Beyond local morbidity, foot ulcers signal systemic vulnerability: individuals who develop foot lesions face a substantially elevated risk of all-cause mortality, largely driven by cardiovascular events, sepsis and renal failure. Key determinants of poorer outcomes include advanced age, chronic kidney disease, poor glycaemic control, ulcer characteristics (size, depth, location) and social deprivation. Optimising patient survival demands a multidisciplinary approach integrating regular foot screening, prompt infection management, revascularisation procedures and metabolic control, yet global mortality rates remain high, highlighting persistent gaps in prevention and care delivery.

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Diabetic Foot Complications and Mortality Risk publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in diabetic foot complications and mortality risk across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Diabetic foot ulcer: A chronic open wound on the foot of a person with diabetes, resulting from combined nerve damage and vascular insufficiency.

All-cause mortality: The incidence of death from any cause in a defined population over a specified time.

Peripheral neuropathy: Nerve damage in the limbs that reduces sensation and predisposes to unnoticed injury.

Revascularisation: Surgical or endovascular restoration of blood flow to ischaemic lower-limb tissues.

Amputation-free survival: The length of time a patient remains alive without undergoing limb amputation.

References

1. Independent association of history of diabetic foot with all-cause mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes: the Renal Insufficiency And Cardiovascular Events (RIACE) Italian Multicenter Study. Cardiovascular Diabetology (2024).
2. Mortality rates in people presenting with a new diabetes-related foot ulcer: a cohort study with implications for management. Diabetologia (2024).
3. Mortality in patients with diabetic foot ulcer: a retrospective study of 513 cases from a single Centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. BMC Endocrine Disorders (2019).
4. Social deprivation modifies the association between incident foot ulceration and mortality in type 1 and type 2 diabetes: a longitudinal study of a primary-care cohort. Diabetologia (2017).