More patients with diabetes mellitus may be at increased risk for
infection following foot and ankle
reconstructive surgery. This study aimed
to determine whether patients with a diagnosis of diabetes have an increased rate of infection following foot and ankle
surgery compared with a cohort of patients without diabetes.
Furthermore, our study sought to demonstrate whether patients
with complicated diabetes are at greater risk of postoperative
wound infection than are patients with uncomplicated
diabetes or patients without diabetes.
We conducted a retrospective review of the charts of 1000 patients who had orthopaedic foot and ankle surgery. The following data were extracted: patient age, sex, history of diabetes mellitus, development of postoperative infection, severity of infection, inpatient or outpatient surgery, use of internal or external fixation, tobacco usage, history of organ transplantation, history of rheumatoid arthritis, length of plastic surgery, follow-up time in weeks, and comorbid conditions.
Patients with diabetes are at increased risk of severe infection compared with those without diabetes. Patients with uncomplicated diabetes did not have an increased risk of postoperative infection compared with patients without diabetes, whereas patients with complicated diabetes had a significantly higher rate of postoperative infection.