[Purpose] The current study aimed to investigate the reliability of infrared thermography
as a method of determining foot skin temperature, and to determine the relationship
between foot skin temperature and blood flow in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients.
[Participants and Methods] Eighty-five patients were recruited and their foot skin
temperature and the ankle brachial index (ABI) were measured using infrared thermography
and an automated oscillometry, respectively. A correlation between foot skin temperature
and blood flow was performed. The patients were screened and classified according to two
groups; diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and non-DPN. Discriminant validity was
determined by comparing the foot skin temperature between the two groups. [Results] The
test-retest reliability of foot skin temperature was high. A positive correlation was
found between foot skin temperature and ABI in both feet. The foot skin temperatures in
the DPN group were found to be significant lower when compared with those in the non-DPN
group. [Conclusion] Foot skin temperature is an indirect method of evaluating blood flow
in the feet of diabetic patients and can be used as a clinical outcome measurement of
treatments used to improve blood flow in type 2 DM patients.
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