The Characteristic of Diabetic Foot Ulcer in Individual with Diabetes Mellitus: A Descriptive Survey

Abstract

Diabetic Foot Ulcer (DFU) is one of the complications that is often experienced by patients with diabetes mellitus. DFU is a serious problem because DFU is a leading cause of disability, morbidity, and mortality among diabetic patients. Identification of wound characteristics are needed in order to determine appropriate treatment and evaluate the treatment that had been done.The purpose of this study are to describe the wound characteristics of DFU and the demographic characteristics that affect it. This studywas a quantitative descriptive study with a cross-sectional approach. This study used consecutive sampling method with inclusion criteria were people aged >18 years old and not having amputations in both of legs.Medical records and interviews were used to obtain respondents' demographic and cliniccal data. Diabetic Foot Ulcer Assessment Scale (DFUAS) was used to examwound characteristicthat consisting of 11 domains: wound depth, wound size, size score, inflammation/infection, proportion of granulation tissue, type of necrotic tissue, proportion of necrotic tissue, proportion of slough, maceration, types of wound edges and tunneling. Univariate analysis was used in this study in the form of frequency and percentage distributions. In addition, there was a cross tabulation between the severity of the wound and the demographic data of the respondents. There were 73 respondents who participated in this study. Most of the respondents had hyperglycemia (75.3%) and no history of amputation (84.9%). Furthermore,more respondentswere middle adult (74%), identified as female (50.7%), had diabetes for more than 5 years (67.1%), no history of DFU (56.2%), and no comorbidities (64, 4%). Based on the severity level of DFU, more respondents were identified at the severe level (73.3%) than low severity, and high severity (9.6%; 15.1%). It is concluded thatthe majority of respondents atsevere level. Therefore, foot treatment is needed in order to cure DFU and to avoid lower limb amputation.