Diabetics do worse after ankle surgery

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

In the largest study of its kind, researchers find that those with diabetes are more prone to complications after ankle surgery than non-diabetics.
We already know that it is important for diabetics to take very good care of their feet because their circulation may be impaired. Now a team at Duke University confirm that they may have problems after ankle surgery too. A number of small studies have suggested this, but this one covered nearly 170,000 patients, making it the biggest study of its kind.

The researchers found that 5.71 per cent of the patients had diabetes. They tended to be older than the non-diabetics and, if they had an ankle fracture needing treatment, it tended to be more severe. However, whatever the severity of the injury, the outcome tended to be worse for the diabetics. They stayed longer in hospital and had higher mortality rates - 0.26 per cent compared to 0.11 per cent. They also had higher rates of post-operative complications - 4.63 per cent compared to 3.27 per cent/ The findings suggest extra care is needed for patients with diabetes when they have ankle surgery. They might, for instance, benefit from careful monitoring of glucose levels around this time and from medication to avoid blood clots. Also, they tend to heal more slowly, and could need extra rehabilitation.

Source
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery August 2005