Economic burden of illness associated with diabetic foot ulcers in Canada

BACKGROUND: The primary objective was to estimate the national burden of illness in Canada for diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) for 2011. Secondary objectives included estimating the national incidence and prevalence of DFU, and the 3-year average cost for DFU incident cases. METHODS: Analyses were conducted using four national databases for the period April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2011, with cases being identified by ICD-10 CA codes. Resource utilization and costs, expressed in 2011 Canadian dollars, were estimated for DFU-related hospitalizations, emergency care (ER), same day surgeries, home care, long term care, physician visits and caregiver time losses. RESULTS: In Canada in the year 2011, DFU was associated with 16,883 hospital admissions (327,140 days), 31,095 ER or clinic visits, 41,367 rehabilitation clinic visits, and 26,493 interventions, including 6,036 amputations and 5,796 surgical debridements. This acute institution care represented $320.5 M, and with an additional $125.4 M for home care and $63.1 M for long term care, the annual cost associated with DFU-related care was $547.0 M, or $21,371 annual cost per prevalent case. In 2011, the national prevalence of DFU was 25,597 cases (75.1 per 100,000 population), consisting of 16,161 men (63.1%) and 9,436 women (36.9%), and an estimated 14,449 incident cases. For an incident case of DFU, the average 3-year cumulative cost was $52,360. CONCLUSION: The annual burden for DFU cases that have at least one admission or ER/clinic visit over a 5 year period is higher than previously reported. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-015-0687-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.