Long-term effects of one year of intensified podiatric activities on foot-care knowledge and self-care habits in patients with diabetes.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the activities of a podiatrist in the outpatient foot care of patients with diabetes. Patients from southwestern Finland, ages 10 to 80 years, were selected from the national diabetes register. Those without a recent visit to a podiatrist and without any obvious need for foot care (n = 530) were randomized into a podiatric care group (individual counseling and primary prevention measures, n = 267) and a control group (written instructions only, n = 263). Knowledge of foot care and self-care habits were evaluated by means of structured interviews, and a podiatric examination was performed at baseline and 1 and 7 years later. Compared with the baseline scores, the knowledge score was higher at the 7-year follow-up in both the podiatric and control group and similarly in men and women. Self-care score increased in men similarly in both treatment groups. The self-care score for women increased more in the podiatric group during the first year and the difference between the groups remained for up to 7 years. There were no significant differences between the groups in the podiatric findings.