Aims: To explore the relationships between time to healing of diabetic foot ulcers and baseline characteristics of both patients and their ulcers.
Methods: All patients were included who were referred to a specialist clinic over a 4-year period. Age, gender, type and duration of diabetes, ulcer site, ulcer duration and baseline characteristics were recorded. Postcode was used to derive an index of social deprivation. Patients were followed up to 1 year. The primary outcome measure was time to healing. Those who died or had an ulcer-related amputation were censored at the time of death or amputation and classified as unhealed.
Results: Mean age of 449 participants (63.7% male) was 66.7 years; 42.7% had evidence of peripheral arterial disease, and 80% had peripheral neuropathy. Median ulcer duration at presentation was 29 days; 60.5% ulcers had an area of < 1 cm(2) and 68.3% of all ulcers healed without amputation during the follow-up period. Univariate analysis revealed dose-response relationships between time to healing and increasing duration of diabetes, increasing ulcer area, ulcer site and peripheral arterial disease. No associations were found with age, gender, diabetes type, deprivation index, peripheral neuropathy or infection. The relationship between healing time and ulcer area, peripheral arterial disease and diabetes duration remained significant on multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: The dominant factors influencing healing are cross-sectional area at presentation and the degree of peripheral arterial disease. Further work is needed to define how those at greatest risk may be identified and best managed.