The Diabetic Foot Research in Arabs’ Countries

Abstract

Objective: To review all the studies on diabetic foot disorders (DFDs) that were published on the PubMed ® site aiming to identify the contributions of the different Arabs' countries in the world scientific literature on this topic. Methods: The PubMed ® site was searched using different key words for searching all the abstracts on Diabetes mellitus (DM) and DFDs published from Arabs' League countries (n = 22). For this review, the 22 countries were classified into 3 groups: Group 1 (G1): Gulf Council Countries (GCC) countries (n = 6), Group 2 (G2): African Arabs' countries (n = 10), Group 3 (G3): Asian and/or Eastern Mediterranean Arabs' countries (n = 6). All the abstracts on DM coming from all of the 22 Arabs' countries were initially reviewed to locate the ones related to DFDs' management. All of the articles related to DFDs were reviewed by the senior author. A publication index was created to allow a comparison between the productivity of various countries and correlate that to the population number. Results: By April 2012, a total of 906 articles were published on DM, out of them 115 (11.6%) were related to DFDs. The largest number of DM/DFDs research came from G1 countries (n = 437/51) followed by G2 (n = 307/38) and finally G3 (n = 162/26). The percentages of the studies related to DFDs were therefore: 11.6%, 12.3% and 20.6% respectively. Saudi Arabia was the top on the list of all studied countries with 31 studies related to DFDs out of the 187 on DM (16.5%). Conclusion: More research on DFDs is needed in most of the Arabs' countries particularly those in the GCC region which reported very high prevalence rates and are expected to hold these rates for the coming decades. Also, special attention is needed for those lowincome Arabs' countries that had no contributions in DFDs' research.

Diabetic Foot Disease Research in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: A bibliometric analysis

“…These findings are consistent with those of two other recent bibliometric analyses of biomedical and DFDrelated publications from GCC countries. 15,26 In the GCC region, DFD-related research has become a growing topic of interest among researchers. The current study observed a gradual but significant increase in the annual number of DFD-related publications originating from GCC countries between 1990-2015, most noticeably from 2007 onwards.…”

“…13,14 In a recent bibliometric analysis, Alzahrani et al examined the research contributions of 22 Arab countries to the DFD literature and found that only 11.6% of 906 DM publications were related to DFD, although the highest number of publications originated from GCC countries. 15 However, this study had methodological limitations. Only articles published between January 1996 and April 2012 were examined; in addition, nonoriginal research studies were included.…”

“…Only articles published between January 1996 and April 2012 were examined; in addition, nonoriginal research studies were included. 15 Moreover, publication-related characteristics (e.g. the quality of the publications and extent of local and international collaboration) were not evaluated.…”

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Versus Conventional Dressing in Treatment of Diabetic Foot Wound

“…Egypt is the only Arab country on the list of the top ten countries that have the largest number of diabetic patients as it occupies the ninth position on the list with a total number of 7.3 million diabetics in 2011 and that number is expected to increase to reach 12.4 million by year 2030 (7) . Diabetic foot problems are the commonest reason for hospitalization of diabetic patients (about 30% of admissions) and absorb some 20% of the total health-care costs of the disease more than all other diabetic complication (8) .…”

History, Virulence Genes, Identification and Antimicrobial Resistance of Enterococcus faecalis Isolated from Diabetic Foot Patients

“…Enterococcus genusis considered as one of the common gram positive pathogenic bacteria in DFIs samples, causative to the tenacity or cruelty of the disease and principal to higher morbidity and mortality degrees (Lipsky et al, 2013). (Alzahrani et al, 2013) reported that more researches on DFDs are needed in maximum of the Arabs' republics predominantly those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area which informed very high incidence degrees and are predictable to hold these degrees for the next years.…”