Risk of major limb amputation in diabetic foot ulcer and accompanying disease: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Limb amputation in diabetic patients raises important issues regarding low quality of life and survival rates. This meta-analysis aimed to identify predictive factors accompanying diseases with high major amputation rates in diabetic patients.

METHODS: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis were performed using MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases. Eight variables were extracted from the included studies and evaluated according to major amputation rates. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) was utilized to assess the quality of the studies.

RESULTS: The search strategy identified 101 publications. After screening, 10 articles were selected for review. Hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and peripheral vascular disease were identified as predictive variables of higher major amputation rates.

CONCLUSIONS: Although further investigation of long-term and prospective studies is needed, we identified four variables as predisposing factors for higher major amputation in diabetic patients through meta-analysis.