Diabetes foot disease: the Cinderella of Australian diabetes management?

J Foot Ankle Res

Allied Health Research Collaborative, Metro North Health Service District, Queensland Health, Brisbane, Australia.

Published: October 2012

AI Article Synopsis

  • Diabetes is a major public health issue in Australia, leading to serious complications such as kidney failure, blindness, and amputations, with rates of diabetes-related amputations being particularly high.
  • The study compares the burden of four main diabetes complications and the government funding allocated to them, revealing that diabetes foot disease has a high burden but receives the least funding.
  • Evidence suggests that increasing government funding for targeted strategies can improve outcomes for diabetes complications, and it is recommended that Australia implement similar evidence-based approaches to address the issue of diabetes foot disease.

Article Abstract

Diabetes is one of the greatest public health challenges to face Australia. It is already Australia's leading cause of kidney failure, blindness (in those under 60 years) and lower limb amputation, and causes significant cardiovascular disease. Australia's diabetes amputation rate is one of the worst in the developed world, and appears to have significantly increased in the last decade, whereas some other diabetes complication rates appear to have decreased. This paper aims to compare the national burden of disease for the four major diabetes-related complications and the availability of government funding to combat these complications, in order to determine where diabetes foot disease ranks in Australia. Our review of relevant national literature indicates foot disease ranks second overall in burden of disease and last in evidenced-based government funding to combat these diabetes complications. This suggests public funding to address foot disease in Australia is disproportionately low when compared to funding dedicated to other diabetes complications. There is ample evidence that appropriate government funding of evidence-based care improves all diabetes complication outcomes and reduces overall costs. Numerous diverse Australian peak bodies have now recommended similar diabetes foot evidence-based strategies that have reduced diabetes amputation rates and associated costs in other developed nations. It would seem intuitive that "it's time" to fund these evidence-based strategies for diabetes foot disease in Australia as well.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3488529PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1757-1146-5-24DOI Listing

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