The North‐West Diabetes Foot Care Study: incidence of, and risk factors for, new diabetic foot ulceration in a community‐based patient cohort

To determine the incidence of, and clinically relevant risk factors for, new foot ulceration in a large cohort of diabetic patients in the community healthcare setting.

Diabetic patients (n = 9710) underwent foot screening in six districts of North-west England in various healthcare settings. All were assessed at baseline for demographic information, medical and social history, neuropathy symptom score, neuropathy disability score, cutaneous pressure perception (insensitivity to the 10 g monofilament), foot deformities, and peripheral pulses. Two years later, patients were followed up via postal questionnaire to determine the incidence of new foot ulcers. Cox's proportional hazards regression analysis was used to determine the independent, relative risk of baseline variables for new foot ulceration.