Quality Assessment of Patients with Diabetic Foot after a Three Months Follow-up in a Special Outpatients's Clinic

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease which can cause many serious complications, such as Diabetic Foot. If the ulcers are not properly treated, they can lead to leg amputation, while the quality of life of these patients is directly and dramatically affected. Aim: To investigate the impact of a three-month intensive care programme on the quality of life of Diabetic Foot patients in a specialized diabetic out-patient clinic. Material and Method: This was a Before-After study, with a sample of 80 patients with lower limb ulcer who were under systematic monitoring at a public Diabetes Center. Participation was voluntary and anonymity was guaranteed. The SF-36 general health assessment questionnaire was used for data collection and the SPSS v18 for data analysis. For the constant variables with normal distribution, parametric t-tests were used to compare the means between independent samples, while Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Wilcoxon Rank Test were used for variables without normal distribution at a statistical significance of p<0.05. Results: After the end of the 3month intervention, most SF-36 sub-scales were over 50% with the exception of the role-limiting due to physical health sub-scale which was 44.1. Comparisons of the patient's health status at the post-intervention phase showed that in most cases patients improved at SF-36 sub-scales with the exception of the role-limiting sub-scale due to physical health (p<0.001 και p=0.963 correspondingly). Conclusions: The systematic management of diabetes mellitus and especially its complications such as Diabetic Foot can significantly improve the quality of life for these patients. The success of the three-month intervention lies in the dynamic and not static mode of operation of the clinic.