Diabetes-Related Amputations Are Reduced by Annual Wellness Visits

Individuals with diabetes who utilize yearly annual wellness visits are 36% less likely to need a major lower-extremity amputation.

According to the researchers’ prior work, the use of annual wellness visits was linked to increased use of preventive care for diabetes patients. In this study, they sought to find an association between annual wellness visits and a reduced risk of lower extremity amputations for patients in the Diabetes Belt of the United States.

The researchers used a sample size of data from 2006 to 2015 with an approximate total of 900,000 Medicare beneficiaries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention categorized the Diabetes Belt as a region of 644 counties in portions of Appalachian and the south of the US with a high prevalence of diabetes.

Among patients in the Diabetes Belt that had an annual wellness visit in the past year, the rate of major lower-extremity amputations was significantly lower when compared with people that did not have an annual wellness visit. Additionally, the researchers noted that patients in that same region had approximately 27% higher odds of receiving a major lower-extremity amputation compared with people living in surrounding areas.

“Patients who used [annual wellness visits] may have had their diabetic foot examined sooner to prevent a major adverse outcome than those who did not,” the researchers added. “Policy makers should prioritize incentives for having patients participate in [annual wellness visits] to help reduce [major lower-extremity amputations].”

—Jessica Ganga

Reference:

Lobo JM, Kim S, Kang H, Soh MW. Association between annual wellness visits and major amputations among medicare beneficiaries in the Diabetes Belt. Diabetes. Published online June 01, 2022. doi:10.237/db22-122-OR