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The comorbidities of diabetes mellitus were evaluated in an Asian American population with podiatric symptoms living in southern California. The three most common nonpedal complaints in men were blurred vision (73.6%), hypertension (64.1%), and erectile dysfunction (52.3%) and in women were blurred vision (84.5%), incontinence (71.5%), and low-back pain with radiculopathy-like symptoms (56.5%). The most significant finding was that only 3.2% of all patients had any previous knowledge or understanding of the risks of foot infection, ulceration, and amputation secondary to diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in ethnic populations once considered practically exempt continues to rise steadily, and Asians living in the United States are becoming casualties of diabetes mellitus and its complications. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 93(1): 37-41, 2003)
Background: To compare pathogens involved in skin and soft-tissue infections (SSTIs) and pedal osteomyelitis (OM) in patients with and without diabetes with puncture wounds to the foot.
Methods: We evaluated 113 consecutive patients between June 1, 2011, and March 31, 2019, with foot infection (SSTIs and OM) from a puncture injury sustained to the foot. Eighty-three patients had diabetes and 30 did not. We evaluated the bacterial pathogens in patients with SSTIs and pedal OM.
Results: Polymicrobial infections were more common in patients with diabetes mellitus (83.1% versus 53.3%; P = .001). The most common pathogen for SSTIs and OM in patients with diabetes was Staphylococcus aureus (SSTIs, 50.7%; OM, 32.3%), whereas in patients without diabetes it was Pseudomonas (25%) for SSTIs. Anaerobes (9.4%) and fungal infection (3.1%) were uncommon. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was identified in only 5.8% of people with diabetes.
Conclusions: The most common bacterial pathogen in both SSTIs and pedal OM was S aureus in patients with diabetes. Pseudomonas species was the most common pathogen in people without diabetes with SSTIs.
