Impact of COVID-19 Crisis in the Management of Diabetic Foot Patients in King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has a heavy burden on the approach of diabetic foot care worldwide. We aim to determine the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on patients with diabetic foot (DF). Materials and methodsThis population-based cohort study included all patients diagnosed with the diabetic foot from 2019-2020 (pre-lockdown) and 2020-2021 (post-lockdown) in a tertiary center of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. ResultsAmong all the participants (n=358), a non-significant difference was found between amputation rate during and before the COVID-19 pandemic (P-value=0.0983). Also, it showed a significantly higher percentage of patients who had acute lower limb ischemia compared to those having it before the pandemic (P-value=0.029). Conclusions and relevanceIn conclusion, our study found that the COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with excess amputations along with mortality rate, as the management during the pandemic showed adequate diabetic foot care by improving the prevention methods through hospital protocol restrictions and facilitating access to virtual clinics.