OBSERVATIONS Characteristics and Outcomes of Subjects With Diabetic Foot

Foot ulcers are a major cause of mor-bidity and hospitalization in patientswith diabetes. The incidence of diabetic foot ulceration is higher in developing countries because of various sociocultural factors. The majority of amputations in pa-tients with diabetes are preceded by foot ulceration; hence it is important to identify patients at risk for this complication. Studies show that the prevalence of diabetic foot ulceration is between 4 and 10 % in Pakistan (1), and the amputation rate following foot ulceration is 8–21% (1,2), depending on the methodology used for treating foot ulceration. We iden-tified diabetic patients at risk for ulceration and compared the clinical and metabolic characteristics of patients with and without foot ulceration together with an analysis of outcomes following ulceration. We included 8,989 patients with di-abetes attending the Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology, a tertiar