Abstract:
Background: A diabetic foot ulcer is a non-traumatic lesion of the skin (partial or full
thickness) on the foot of a person who has diabetes mellitus. Diabetic foot ulcer is one of the
most feared and common complications of diabetes. Foot ulcers are a major cause of
disability, morbidity, and mortality among diabetic patients, and it has been estimated that
15% of all people with diabetes will have an ulcer at some stage of their life.
Objective: To assess determinants of diabetic foot ulcer among diabetic patients attending
the chronic disease follow up in west shoa Public Hospitals, Oromia, Ethiopia 2022
Methods: A hospital-based unmatched case control study was conducted in public hospitals
found in the West Shoa. The final sample size was 189 (63 cases and 126 controls). Controls
had been selected from patients with diabetes without diabetic foot ulcers using a systematic
random sampling technique, an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire and
recorded review was used to collect data from the cases and controls. Data were checked,
coded, and entered into Epi-Data version 4.2.2.2 and exported to SPSS version 24 for
analysis. The binary logistic regression model was used to assess the association between the
dependent and independent variables. All variables with a p-value < 0. 25 had been included
in the multivariable logistic regression analysis to avoid confounding factors. Statistical
significance was declared at p- valued < 0. 05
Results: In this study, among the 63 diabetic patients with foot ulcer and 126 diabetic
patients without foot ulcer, 35 (55.6%) in cases and 70 (55.6%) in controls were males.
Drinking alcohol {AOR: 3.5, 95% C.I 1.40 – 8.76}, not doing regular physical exercise,
{AOR: 2.76, 95%C. I: 1.97-6.40}, foot deformity {AOR: 8.55, 95%C.I. {3.40 - 21.46}
Peripheral neuropathy {AOR:7.29, 95%CI,2.95 – 17.55}, walking bare foot {AOR 4.69,
95%C. I: 1.02 – 21.43} was positively associated with diabetic foot ulcer.
Conclusion and Recommendations: Risk of Developing Diabetic foot ulcer is associated
with drinking alcohol, not doing regular physical exercise, foot deformity. Peripheral
neuropathy, walking bare foot. It will be helpful if diabetic patients do regular physical
exercises and wear well fit shoes.
