Dash Bibhu, Sarker Md Rayhan, Alam Md Mukter, Asick Asack Mamun, Begum Aklima
Institute of Leather Engineering and Technology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1209, Bangladesh.
Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 78666, USA.
Heliyon. 2024 Sep 11;10(18):e37824. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37824. eCollection 2024 Sep 30.
The number of diabetic patients is increasing rapidly who have vulnerable feet and might be easily affected by different adversities. Since there is no available footwear sizing system for diabetic patients, manufacturers produce diabetic footwear of different sizes and fittings based on other available footwear sizing systems, which may result in inappropriate fitting. To get footwear with proper fittings, diabetic patients may go for customized or bespoke footwear based on their foot conditions, which is very costly. This study attempts to explore the foot complications of diabetic patients and categorize their feet to create a new sizing system using foot measurements from 102 male diabetic patients based on three dimensions of human feet, namely foot length, ball girth, and instep circumference. K-means data clustering is followed to categorize the data into three broad groups, namely small, medium, and large groups for footwear sizing. The developed footwear sizing system uses a sizing interval of 8 mm and a fitting interval of 6 mm. This study suggests a total of 11 sizes along with 24 different fittings for the footwear manufacturers for producing diabetic footwear. This newly developed footwear sizing system has a total of 79.41 % coverage where there are 10, 10, and 4 fittings in the small, medium, and large groups, respectively. The proposed footwear sizing system can help footwear manufacturers understand the proper size and fit of diabetic patients' feet so that they can make appropriate footwear for diabetic patients economically.
糖尿病患者的数量正在迅速增加，他们的足部较为脆弱，很容易受到各种不利因素的影响。由于目前没有适用于糖尿病患者的鞋码测量系统，制造商只能根据其他现有的鞋码测量系统来生产不同尺寸和款式的糖尿病患者专用鞋，这可能会导致鞋码不合适。为了买到合适的鞋子，糖尿病患者可能会选择根据自身足部状况定制的鞋子，但这种鞋子非常昂贵。本研究试图探究糖尿病患者的足部并发症，并对他们的脚进行分类，以便根据102名男性糖尿病患者的足部测量数据，基于人脚的三个维度，即脚长、跖围和脚背围，创建一种新的鞋码测量系统。采用K均值数据聚类方法将数据分为三大类，即小、中、大三类，用于鞋码测量。所开发的鞋码测量系统的尺码间隔为8毫米，适配间隔为6毫米。本研究为鞋类制造商生产糖尿病患者专用鞋总共建议了11种尺码以及24种不同的适配尺寸。这种新开发的鞋码测量系统的总覆盖率为79.41%，其中小、中、大三类分别有10种、10种和4种适配尺寸。所提出的鞋码测量系统可以帮助鞋类制造商了解糖尿病患者足部的合适尺寸和适配情况，从而能够经济地为糖尿病患者生产合适的鞋子。
