A retrospective cohort study of diabetic foot disease during the covid pandemic in a tertiary care hospital in Kerala

Introduction: Diabetes affects 88 million people in south-east Asia with a regional prevalence of8.8%, and of them, 77 million live in India. Diabetic Foot Disease is an important complication thataccounts for significant morbidity and mortality in a diabetic individual. Aim: This study wasconducted to study the presentation stage of diabetic foot disease during the pandemic period asseen at a tertiary care hospital in North Kerala. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort studycarried out on patients diagnosed with diabetic foot and admitted to the Department of Surgery of atertiary care hospital in North Kerala during the study period of 6months from July 2020 toDecember 2020. A sample size of 63 was calculated. Data were collected from the case records ofthe patients, and the stages of presentation, relevant blood investigations, culture reports,radiological imaging and arterial doppler ultrasound findings were noted. Results: In this study, atotal of 63 patients were included. Of the 63 patients, 51(80.9%) were males, and 12 (19.0%) werefemales with a male to female ratio of 4.25:1. The mean age of the patients was 57.74 years. In thisstudy, as per the Wagner-Meggitt Classification of diabetic foot, the most common stage ofpresentation of diabetic foot encountered was Grade III (42.9%) followed by Grade IV (28.6%),Grade II (19.0%) and Grade V (9.5%).Conclusion: This is in part may be due to financialconstraints of the patient's families due to lack of job, transportation difficulties, shortage ofmedicines, shutting down of small scale health care facilities and pharmacies, prolonged neglect ofwounds, discontinuing of regular medications and poor home wound care which in turn are due tothe frequent regional lockdowns as a result of the covid pandemic.