The number of people with diabetes in America has been on the upswing in recent years, and so has the number of amputations related to complications from the illness. As with many other health care disparities in the United States, the Black and Latin American communities are getting hit the hardest by the crisis, having their limbs amputated at a higher rate than their white counterparts. 'The most stark disparity in Black versus white health in America' The number of diabetic Americans suffering from complications that result in amputation has been on the rise in general in the United States.
About 154,000 Americans with diabetes undergo amputation each year, per the American Diabetes Association's Amputation Prevention Alliance. As much as 80% of non-traumatic lower limb amputations are due to diabetes complications. And many of the amputations were preventable.
"It is a perfect storm of poor health and lack of medical guidance," Dr. Dean Schillinger, founder of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, said to The Guardian . A person who has developed a foot ulcer "often doesn't realize they need to not put weight on this foot so it can heal," she said.
They're often working to support their families and can't just 'put their feet up for four to six weeks.'" Statistics show that specific communities are more likely to be caught in that perfect storm. Studies show that less affluent Americans with diabetes are more than four times more likely to have a limb amputated tha.