Chronic Kidney Disease and Charcot Neuro-Osteoarthropathy of Foot in Diabetes.

Introduction: Charcot neuro-osteoarthropathy (CNO) occurs late in diabetes and may cause fracture, deformity, and higher mortality. Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) affects bone metabolism and contributes to mortality. However, there is no data on prevalence of CNO and its outcomes with coexisting DKD (or chronic kidney disease [CKD]).

Methods: To ascertain the prevalence of CKD (pick CKD or DKD) among patients with CNO and delineate the remission of active CNO and subsequent lower extremity amputation and all-cause mortality during prospective follow-up. Consecutive patients with diabetic CNO (active or inactive) were enrolled and subsequently divided into those with and without CKD (pick CKD or DKD) (Group A and Group B, respectively). A preestablished timeframe of 36 weeks was utilized to evaluate the remission proportion of active CNO.

Results: A total of 493 CNO patients were observed and 449 subjects (150 patients had active CNO) were further evaluated. The overall prevalence of diabetic nephropathy (DKD or CKD?) CNO was 43.7%. The proportion of patients achieving remission was significantly lower in Group A compared to Group B (OR 0.468, CI [0.239-0.934], P = .025), however, the median time for achieving remission was similar between the 2 groups (14 weeks vs 16 weeks, P = .885). Overall, all-cause mortality was notably higher Group A compared to Group B (OR 2.23, 95% CI [1.474-3.368]) over a median follow-up of 4 years. No significant differences were observed in rates of diabetic foot ulcers (58.2% vs 54.9%; P = .584) and amputations (17.4% vs 15.12%; P = .889) between Group A and Group B.

Conclusion: Patients of CNO with coexisting CKD have poor prognosis both in terms of likelihood of active CNO remission and higher mortality.