Brutal inequalities in diabetes care: amputation hot spots

joe rojas-burke

Hot spots of diabetic amputation in Los Angeles, where rates vary from less than 1 to more than 10 amputations per 1,000 people age 45 and older with diabetes in 2009.

Surgical amputation of toes, feet or legs is a dreaded outcome of diabetes that can be prevented with good medical care. That can be hard to get if you live in the wrong zip code. People with diabetes in the lowest income neighborhoods of California were 10 times more likely to lose lower extremities to amputation than people with diabetes in the highest income neighborhoods, according to a new paper published in Health Affairs.

Many news outlets covered the story, but none that I read provided much context beyond repeating what the Health Affairs paper had to say, which is a shame because there’s a lot to report. Most didn’t even bother to mention the racial divide and relentless…

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