Cognitive dysfunction in people with diabetic foot ulcers

Recognising that a diabetic foot ulcer imposes a large self-treatment burden on the individual, the researchers in this study felt that there might be a potential gap between medical recommendations and the individual’s ability to implement them. They used a standardised mental state score to assess a group of people with diabetic foot disease and found that individuals with a diabetic foot ulcer had lower cognitive function than individuals with diabetes who did not have this complication.

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By Colin Kenny, GP, Dromore

In this study, 99 individuals with diabetic foot ulcers and a control group of 95 individuals with type 2 diabetes were matched for diabetes duration and sex. Both groups had a standardised neuropsychological evaluation, which generated a global cognitive score for each group.

The researchers found that individuals with diabetic foot ulcers had significantly lower cognitive scores than individuals with diabetes who did not have this complication. They felt that individuals with diabetic foot ulcers face more self-treatment challenges but have fewer “cognitive resources”.

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Cognitive dysfunction in people with diabetic foot ulcers

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