Diabetic Foot Facts

Diabetes Foot Facts
PREVALENCE OF DIABETES
TOTAL: 23.6 million people – Nearly eight percent of the U.S. population has diabetes.
DIAGNOSED: 17.9 million people
UNDIAGNOSED: 5.7 million people

PREVALENCE OF DIABETES AMONG PEOPLE 20 YEARS OR OLDER
• AGE 20 YEARS OR OLDER: 23.5 million. Nearly 11 percent of all people in this age group have diabetes.
• AGE 60 YEARS OR OLDER: 12.2 million. Almost 23 percent of all people in this age group have diabetes.
• MEN: 12 million. Close to 11 percent of all men, aged 20 years or older, have diabetes; nearly one third do not know it.
• WOMEN: 11.5 million. Nearly 10 percent of all women aged 20 years or older have diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes is at least two to four times higher among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Latino American women, than among non-Hispanic white women.

PREVALENCE OF DIABETES BY RACE/ETHNICITY AMONG PEOPLE 20 YEARS OR OLDER
• AFRICAN-AMERICANS: Nearly 15 percent or close to 4 million of all non-Hispanic blacks, aged 20 years or older, has diabetes. On average, non-Hispanic blacks are 1.8 times more likely to have diabetes than non-Hispanic whites of similar age.
• HISPANIC/LATINO-AMERICANS: Nearly 11 percent of Hispanic/Latino Americans aged 20 years or older have diabetes. Mexican Americans, the largest Hispanic/Latino subgroup, are almost two times as likely to have diabetes as non-Hispanic whites.
• CAUCASIAN- AMERICANS: Close to 15 million or nearly 10 percent of all non-Hispanic whites, aged 20 years or older, have diabetes.

COMPLICATIONS OF DIABETES
AMPUTATIONS
• About 60-70 percent of people with diabetes have mild to severe forms of diabetic nerve damage (which often includes impaired sensation or pain in the feet or hands, slowed digestion of food in the stomach, etc.) Severe forms of diabetic nerve damage can lead to lower-extremity amputations.
• More than 60 percent of non-traumatic lower-limb amputations in the United States occur among people with diabetes.
• After an amputation, the chance of another amputation within 3 to 5 years is as high as 50 percent, according to the National Diabetes Education Program.
• The rate of amputation for people with diabetes is 10 times higher than for people without diabetes.

PREVENTING DIABETES COMPLICATIONS
• A podiatrist, a doctor of podiatric medicine (DPM) qualified by their education, training and experience to diagnose and treat conditions affecting the foot, ankle and related structures of the leg, plays an integral role in a diabetes management team. Diabetes can affect many parts of the body and can lead to serious complications such as blindness, kidney damage, and lower-limb amputations. Working together, people with diabetes and their health care providers, such as a podiatric physician, can reduce the occurrence of these and other diabetes complications.
• Comprehensive foot care programs can reduce amputation rates by 45 percent to 85 percent.




Information for this fact sheet has been compiled using the latest statistics from the American Diabetes Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.