Limb Amputation More Common Among Poor Diabetic Patients: Study

Diabetic patients from low-income backgrounds have 10 times increased chances of losing a toe or a part of their limbs compared to their wealthy counterparts, finds a study.

People from disadvantaged backgrounds and poor socio-economic status are more vulnerable to an array of health problems and illnesses due to lack adequate financial resources and limited access to healthcare system. A recent study by the University of California, Los Angeles, found limb amputations are commonly sought by poor diabetic patients to escape life-threatening disease complications and conditions like gangrene and severe infections.

The experts looked at data from a health survey on incidence of diabetes among poor population and used information from the Statewide Health Planning and Development to record total number of amputation surgeries in 2009.Their research noted almost 8,000 surgical removal of toes, feet and legs from 6,800 patients during the same year in California. Over 1,000 diabetic patients underwent more than two amputation procedures.

The experts believe people from low-income households do not take proper care to ensure their blood sugar levels are in the normal range or manage their overall health. As a result, they have low immunity and develop infections.

 Their analysis revealed almost 6 percent of African-Americans residing in California made up 13 percent of those who received more than one diabetes-related amputation. The surgical removal of limbs and body parts was more prevalent in patients living in neighborhoods like San Fernando than those from affluent and posh areas of the state.

"When you have diabetes, where you live directly relates to whether you'll lose a limb to the disease. Millions of Californians have undergone preventable amputations due to poorly managed diabetes. We hope our findings spur policymakers nationwide to improve access to treatment by expanding Medicaid and other programs targeting low-income residents, as we did in California in 2014," said Carl Stevens, a clinical professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, in a news release.

The authors will be investigating further to determine exact factors that lead to amputation and identify new methods to improve diabetes care especially for downtrodden patients.

More information is available online in the journal of Health Affairs.