Management of diabetic persons with foot ulceration during COVID-19 health care emergency: Effectiveness of a new triage pathway

Abstract

Aim: To define the outcomes of persons with diabetes and foot ulcers (DFUs) managed through a specific triage pathway during the COVID-19 crisis.

Methods: Patients who had an active DFU during the COVID-19 emergency were included. All participants were managed using a specific triage system driven both by ulcer'severity and concomitant co-diseases. Subjects with severely complicated DFUs were urgently referred to hospital regardless of the concomitant comorbidities. Subjects with complicated DFUs received outpatient evaluation (within 48-72 h) and were admitted to hospital if required (revascularization, surgical intervention, intravenous antibiotic therapy); after the first outpatient visit or hospitalization, patients were followed according to the number of comorbidities (in the case of 3 or more comorbidities patients were followed up by telemedicine). Patients with uncomplicated DFUs were managed by telemedicine after outpatient evaluation. Healing, major amputation, death and rate of COVID-19 infection were evaluated. The minimum follow-up was 1 month.

Results: The study group included 151 patients. The mean age was 69.9 ± 14.2 years, 58.9% were male and 91.4% had type 2 diabetes; 58.7% had severely complicated, 21% complicated and 20.3% uncomplicated DFUs. Among those, 78.8% presented with 3 or more comorbidities. One hundred and six patients had regular clinical follow-ups, while 45 were managed through telemedicine. Forty-one (27.1%) patients healed, 3 (1.9%) had major amputations and 3 (1.9%) died. One patient (0.6%) reported COVID-19 positivity due to infection acquired at home.

Conclusion: The triage pathway adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic showed adequate management of DFUs and no cases of hospital virus exposure.

Keywords: Amputation; COVID-19; Diabetes; Diabetic foot ulcers; Mortality.