Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the incidence, relative risk, in-hospital mortality and hospital stay of diabetes-related lower extremity amputations in the state of California and the Netherlands in the year 1991.
Research design and methods: We used established data obtained from the Office of Statewide Planning and Development for the state of California and from SIG Health Care Information in the Netherlands to identify all hospitalisations for lower extremity amputations. We used age- and sex-specific prevalence rates of diabetes mellitus from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the state of California and rates from the Central Bureau of Statistics for the Netherlands. A direct standardisation technique with the 1991 Netherlands population as the standard population was used to calculate age-adjusted incidence rates. Age was categorised into four different groups: 25-44, 45-64, 65-74 and 75+. Amputations were defined by four levels; toe, foot, leg and thigh.
Results: The age-adjusted incidence of diabetes-related lower extremity amputations was significantly higher in the state of California than in the Netherlands (49.9 vs. 36.1 per 10000 diabetics, P < 0.01). The relative risk, comparing the risk in the diabetic with that in the non-diabetic population, was California 23.7 vs. the Netherlands 19.7. The length of hospital stay was significantly higher in the Netherlands: 40.8 vs. 16.0 (P < 0.01).
Conclusions: There are some significant differences in the outcomes associated with diabetes-related lower extremity amputations. Some of these differences may be explained by differences in access to health care.