Ischemic stroke in patients with diabetic foot.

AIM

The diabetic foot syndrome is the most frequent cause of hospitalization of diabetic patients and one of the economically most demanding complications of diabetes. People with diabetes have been shown to have higher mortality than people without diabetes, but the cerebrovascular risk profile of these patients is not fully evaluated. The aim of our study was to evaluate the possible role of diabetic foot as a cerebrovascular risk marker in type 2 diabetic patients.

METHODS

We enrolled 102 type 2 diabetes patients with diabetic foot and 123 diabetic patients without diabetic foot.

RESULTS

Statistically significant differences were found in the distribution of the main cardiovascular risk factors with exception of hypertension. We observed a higher prevalence of previous cerebrovascular events (transient ischemic attack, ischemic stroke) and of incidence of new onset cerebrovascular events at a 5-year follow-up. Regarding clinical subtype of ischemic stroke classified according to Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) classification on a retrospective and prospective basis, we observed a higher prevalence of both the lacunar and large artery atherosclerosis subtype with a slight higher prevalence of lacunar subtype in patients with diabetic foot.

CONCLUSION

Our results show a worse cerebrovascular risk profile in diabetic patients with diabetic foot than in diabetic subjects without foot ulceration with a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and of anamnestic cerebrovascular events and incidence of new cerebrovascular events at a 5-year follow-up.