Objective No study has reported global disability burden estimates for individual diabetesrelated lower extremity complications (DRLECs). The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) study presents a robust opportunity to address this gap.Research Design and Methods GBD 2016 data including prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs) for the DRLECs of diabetic neuropathy, foot ulcer, and amputation with, and without prosthesis were used. GBD estimated prevalence using data from systematic reviews and DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool. YLDs were estimated as the product of prevalence estimates and disability weights for each DRLEC. We reported global, sex-, age-, region-and country-specific estimates for each DRLEC for 1990 and 2016. ResultsIn 2016, an estimated 131 million (1.8% of the global population) had DRLECs. An estimated 16.8 million YLDs (2.1% global YLDs) were caused by DRLECs, including 12.9 million (95% uncertainty interval: 8.30 to 18.8) from neuropathy only, 2.5 million (1.7 to 3.6) foot ulcers, 1.1 million (0.7 to 1.4) amputation without prosthesis, and 0.4 million (0.3 to 0.5) amputation with prosthesis. Age-standardised YLDs rates of all DRLECs increased by between 14.6% to 31.0% from 1990 estimates. Male-to-female YLD ratios ranged from 0.96 for neuropathy only to 1.93 for foot ulcers. Aged groups 50-69 years accounted for 47.8% of all YLDs from DRLECs.Conclusions These first ever global estimates suggest DRLECs are a large and growing contributor to the disability burden worldwide, and disproportionately affect males and middle-to-older aged populations. These findings should facilitate policymakers worldwide to target strategies at populations disproportionately affected by DRLECs.

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Aims:The provision of guideline-based care for patients with diabetes-related foot ulcers (DFU) in clinical practice is suboptimal. We estimated the cost-effectiveness of higher rates of guideline-based care, compared with current practice. Methods:The costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) associated with current practice (30% of patients receiving guideline-based care) were compared with seven hypothetical scenarios with increasing proportion of guideline-based care (40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90% and 100%). Comparisons were made using discrete event simulations reflecting the natural history of DFU over a 3-year time horizon from the Australian healthcare perspective. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated for each scenario and compared to a willingness-to-pay of AUD 28,000 per QALY. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted to incorporate joint parameter uncertainty.Results: All seven scenarios with higher rates of guideline-based care were likely cheaper and more effective than current practice. Increased proportions compared with current practice resulted in between AUD 0.28 and 1.84 million in cost savings and 11-56 additional QALYs per 1000 patients. Probabilistic sensitivity analyses indicated that the finding is robust to parameter uncertainty.