Diabetic Foot Problems During the COVID 19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Care Center: The Emergency Among the Emergencies
As a consequence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic, profound changes in daily lives have occurred. In Italy, the exponential spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV 2) infection required extraordinary measures to limit viral transmission, leading to an almost complete lockdown of the country (1) The mandatory lockdown significantly affected patients with chronic diseases, including people with diabetes and diabetic foot ulceration (DFU) which represents a heavy burden for health care systems in terms of mortality and reduced quality of life (1,2) The interruption of preventive education, early treatment, and diagnosis may have led to increased hospitalization of patients with severe DFU at high amputation risk (3) The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical features and amputation risk of individuals with diabetes and DFU admitted to a tertiary care center during the COVID 19 lockdown compared with a population admitted in the first 5 months of 2019. Patients with diabetes and DFU admitted to the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases at the Teaching Hospital of University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli" (Naples, Italy) from 9 March 2020 to 18 May 2020 were included in this study. This cohort was compared with a population of patients admitted
Diabetes Care