The risk factors for amputation of the diabetic foot ulcer : a descriptive literature review

Background: Diabetic foot ulcer, a severe complication of diabetes mellitus, poses a significant global health burden. The International Diabetes Federation projected that approximately 783 million individuals will live with diabetes by 2045, with 6,3% of diabetic patients developing diabetic foot ulcer.Aim: To describe the risk factors for amputation of a diabetic foot ulcer.Methods: Literature searches were conducted through the PubMed database to screen empirical studies published in English within 10 years. Ten quantitative studies (2014–2024) covering 4225 patients in China, Ethiopia, and the United Kingdom were included.Results: This study demonstrated that there were three broad categories of risk factors for diabetic foot ulcer amputation: blood test factors (which include blood routine indicators, nutritional metabolic indicators and inflammatory indicators), disease-related factors and demographic factors.Conclusion: Nursing staff should pay attention to the high-risk blood indicators of amputation, strengthen diabetic foot screening, monitoring and standardized nursing, control patients' blood glucose and inflammatory indicators, pay attention to patients' health education, and reduce the risk of diabetic foot ulcer amputation.