Lower limb amputations due to diabetes

Burden of lower limb amputations due to diabetes in Australia: Australian Burden of Disease Study 2011 has been released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Patients with diabetes accounted for 3,570 lower limb amputations in Australia in 2012-13.

For 2011, it was found that the rate of non-fatal burden due to lower limb amputations as a result of the complications of diabetes was

• three time higher for males as females
• four times higher in the Northern Territory as the national rate
• highest for people living in very remote areas and the lowest socioconomic group
• 3.8 times higher for Indigenous Australians as non-Indigenous Australians.

The good news was that the lower limb amputation rate did decline between 2003 and 2011, despite significant increases in the diagnosis of diabetes.