Prevalence and risk factors of diabetic foot disease among the people with type 2 diabetes using real-world practice data from Catalonia during 2018

BACKGROUND: Our study aimed to assess the prevalence of diabetic foot disease (DFD) and its associated risk factors among subjects attending primary care centers in Catalonia (Spain). METHODS: We undertook a cross-sectional analysis of data from the primary health care (SIDIAP) database. The presence of comorbidities and concomitant medication were analyzed for subjects with or without DFD. DFD prevalence was estimated from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2018. RESULTS: During the 12-month observational period, out of 394,266 people with type 2 diabetes, we identified 3,277 (0.83%) active episodes of DFD in the database. The majority of these episodes were foot ulcers (82%). The mean age of patients with DFD was 70.3 (± 12.5) years and 55% were male. In the multivariable descriptive models, male gender, diabetes duration, hypertension, macrovascular, microvascular complications, and insulin and antiplatelet agents were strongly associated with DFD. A previous history of DFD was the stronger risk factor for DFD occurrence in subjects with T2DM (OR: 13.19, 95%CI: 11.81; 14.72). CONCLUSIONS: In this real-world primary care practice database, we found a lower prevalence of DFD compared to similar previous studies. Risk factors such as male sex, duration of diabetes, diabetes complications and previous history of DFD were associated with the presence of DFD.