Amputations Drop for U.S. Diabetics

People with diabetes are much less likely to lose a limb or a toe because of the disease, new research shows. The study found that the amputation rate for diabetics has dropped by more than half since the mid-1990s. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did the study. It was based on hospital discharge records. Amputations are most common among people with diabetes who are elderly or have had the disease for at least 10 years. So the study focused on people age 40 and older. The amputation rate was 11.2 per 1,000 people in 1996. By 2008, the number of Americans with diabetes more than tripled. But the amputation rate dropped to about 4 per 1,000. Researchers said this drop probably was the result of better treatments. The journal Diabetes Care published the study. The Associated Press wrote about it January 25.