International Journal of Advances in Medicine | July 2021 | Vol 8 | Issue 7 Page 897
International Journal of Advances in Medicine
Rai S et al. Int J Adv Med. 2021 Jul;8(7):897-901
http://www.ijmedicine.com
pISSN 2349-3925 | eISSN 2349-3933
Original Research Article
Clinical and microbiological profile of diabetic foot ulcers in a tertiary
care setup: a cross sectional analysis
Siddharth Rai
1
*, Harleen Uppal
2
, Arvind Kumar Sharma
3
, Anil Kumar Gupta
4
INTRODUCTION
India is the diabetic capital of the world, the diabetic
population in the country is close to hitting the alarming
mark of 69.9 million by 2025 and 80 million by 2030.
1
In
diabetic population, the lifetime risk of a diabetic foot
ulcer (DFU) is 15% and around 28% of them may require
some form of amputation.
2
Chronic diabetes causes macro
and microangiopathy and peripheral sensory and motor
neuropathy. These neuropathies lead to foot deformities,
in turn escalates to ischemia, and foot infection.
3
DFUs are
responsible for considerable morbidity and a significant
cost of health‐care worldwide.
4
Foot infections account for 20% of hospitalization of
diabetic patients yearly.
5
Presence of superimposed
infection in an already existing DFU, not only delays
healing but also poses risk of systemic infection,
ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes associated neuropathy and vasculopathy leads to development of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU).
They are responsible for considerable morbidity and a significant cost of health‐care worldwide. The magnitude of the
problem becomes worse in regions where foot care is inadequate like in our country. The aim of the study to determine
the microbiological profile and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of organisms isolated from patients with diabetic
foot ulcers.
Methods: The study was a cross sectional study done at King George’s Medical College, Lucknow from 2012-2014 in
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Based on the inclusion criteria sample were collected from 112 patients. The standard protocol
for the identification of microorganisms was followed. A descriptive analysis of the data was done.
Results: Out of the 112 ulcers total 180 isolates were found. Of the 112 cases, 78 were monomicrobial, 32 were
polymicrobial, and 2 cases were sterile on culture. The most common bacteria found was Staphylococcus aureus. Most
of the staphylococcus isolated were sensitive to vancomycin, teicoplanin, cephalosporins, linezolid levofloxacin and
pipercillin-tazobactum. Nearly 65% of S. aureus were methicillin‐resistant S. aureus.
Conclusions: This study compiled clinical and microbiological profile of diabetic foot ulcers along with their antibiotic
susceptibility patterns. Our study illuminates light on a high figure of neglected and poorly treated NHUs which could
have been managed well and early treatment will prevent devastating consequences such as sepsis and amputation.
Keywords: Diabetic foot ulcer, Diabetes mellitus, Non-healing ulcer, Diabetic foot
1
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Apex Trauma Centre, Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of
Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India
2
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, New
Delhi, India
3
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, AIIMS, Raebareli, India
4
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, India
Received: 02 June 2021
Accepted: 18 June 2021
*Correspondence:
Dr. Siddharth Rai,
E-mail: siddharth.bmc@gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20212345