Diabetic Amputees in Singapore

We studied the clinical features of 262 consecutive patients who had 289 limb amputations in the University Department of Orthopaedics, Singapore General Hospital from January, 1978 to June, 1980. Of these, 171 (59.2%) were done for diabetic complications, 43 (14.9%) for trauma and 27 (9.3%) for atherosclerosis. The mean age of the three groups were 65±10 (s. D.), 32±17, and 75±8 years respectively. The indications for amputation in diabetics were gangrene (36%), ulcer (25%), infection (14%), gangrene and ulcer (11%), gangrene and infection (8.2%), and ulcer and infection (6%). The majority of diabetics were treated with oral agents (80.2%) and diet (6.4%), with 13.4% on insulin. Most patients had-their diabetes for less than ten years-38.6%