To Örebro University

INTRODUCTION: Adherence to wearing prescribed footwear is paramount in reducing the risk of developing diabetes-related foot ulcers, but adherence is often lower than optimal. This study aimed to investigate predictors of footwear adherence and variations in adherence and activity in people at risk of diabetes-related foot ulceration.

METHODS: Sixty people at high foot ulcer risk were included. We measured the proportion of weight-bearing acitivity time the prescribed footwear was worn for seven days. Multiple linear regression and analysis of variance were used.

RESULTS: Mean overall adherence was 63%. Adherence was lower at home than away from home (59% vs. 74%), while activity was higher at home (2.2 vs. 1.2 h/day). Adherence was similar across activities (61%-63%). No variable predicted the overall adherence. Higher Hba1c predicted lower adherence at home (β = -0.34, p = 0.045, R2 = 11.6%). More daily steps predicted lower adherence away from home (β = -0.30, p = 0.033, R2 = 9.3%). Adherence and activity were highest in mornings (71%, 1.1 h) and afternoons (71%, 1.5 h), and lower in evenings (40%, 0.8 h) and at nights (9%, 0.1 h). Adherence was similar on weekdays and weekend days (63% vs. 60%), but activity was higher on weekdays (3.4 vs. 3.0 h).

CONCLUSION: Adherence levels and predictors thereof differed between adherence at home and away from home, so we suggest to treat them as different concepts. Due to the low explained variance, future studies should focus on other predictors such as psychological variables.

BACKGROUND: Despite the presence of both national and regional clinical practical guidelines (CPGs) in Sweden, no previous studies have investigated the quality of CPGs or the level of agreement between national and regional CPGs.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the quality of national CPGs recommending prosthetics and orthotics (P&O) and quantify the agreement between national and regional CPGs in Sweden.

STUDY DESIGN: Literature Review.

METHODS: National and regional CPGs were identified in public databases and by surveyed local nurse practitioners. Quality of the national guidelines was assessed by using AGREE II. Agreement between recommendations in the national and regional CPGs was quantified on a 4-grade rating scale ("similar," "partially similar," "not similar/not present," and "different").

RESULTS: Of 18 national CPGs, 3 CPGs (CPGs of Diabetes, Musculoskeletal disorders, and Stroke) had 9 recommendations related to P&O. The Musculoskeletal disorders and Stroke CPGs had quality scores .60% in all domains, and the Diabetes CPG had scores .60% in 5 of 6 domains according to AGREE II. Seven regional CPGs for P&O treatment were identified. Three national recommendations (in Diabetes CPGs) showed "similar" content for all regions, and 2 national recommendations (in Diabetes CPGs) showed "not similar" content for all regions. The remaining recommendations (Diabetes, Musculoskeletal disorders, and Stroke CPGs) had varying agreement with regional CPGs.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a limited number of national recommendations for treatment within P&O. There was variation in the agreement of P&O-related recommendations in national and regional CPGs, which might lead to unequal care throughout the national healthcare system.

AIMS: Risk factors for lower limb amputation (LLA) in individuals with diabetes have been under-studied. We examined how 1/demographic and socioeconomic, 2/medical, and 3/lifestyle risk factors may be associated with LLA in people with newly diagnosed diabetes.

METHODS: Using the Swedish national diabetes register from 2007 to 2016, we identified all individuals ≥18 years with an incident diabetes diagnosis and no previous amputation. These individuals were followed from the date of diabetes diagnosis to amputation, emigration, death, or the end of the study in 2017 using data from the In-Patient Register and the Total Population Register. The cohort consisted of 66,569 individuals. Information about demographic, socioeconomic, medical, and lifestyle risk factors was ascertained around the time of the first recorded diabetes diagnosis, derived from the above-mentioned registers. Cox proportional hazard models were used to obtain hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

RESULTS: During the median follow-up time of 4 years, there were 133 individuals with LLA. The model adjusting for all variables showed a higher risk for LLA with higher age, HR 1.08 (95% CI 1.05-1.10), male sex, HR 1.57 (1.06-2.34), being divorced, HR 1.67 (1.07-2.60), smokers HR 1.99 (1.28-3.09), insulin treated persons HR 2.03 (1.10-3.74), people with low physical activity (PA) HR 2.05 (1.10-3.74), and people with an increased foot risk at baseline HR > 4.12. People with obesity had lower risk, HR 0.46 (0.29-0.75).

CONCLUSIONS: This study found a higher risk for LLA among people with higher age, male sex, who were divorced, had a higher foot risk group, were on insulin treatment, had lower PA levels, and were smokers. No significant association was found between risk for LLA and education level, country of origin, type of diabetes, blood glucose level, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, creatinine level, or glomerular filtration rate. Obesity was associated with lower risk for LLA. Identified variables may have important roles in LLA risk among people with diabetes.

AIMS: Offloading mechanical tissue stress is arguably the most important of multiple interventions needed to heal diabetes-related foot ulcers. This is the 2023 International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) evidence-based guideline on offloading interventions to promote healing of foot ulcers in persons with diabetes. It serves as an update of the 2019 IWGDF guideline.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We followed the GRADE approach by devising clinical questions and important outcomes in the PICO (Patient-Intervention-Control-Outcome) format, undertaking a systematic review and meta-analyses, developing summary of judgement tables and writing recommendations and rationales for each question. Each recommendation is based on the evidence found in the systematic review, expert opinion where evidence was not available, and a careful weighing of GRADE summary of judgement items including desirable and undesirable effects, certainty of evidence, patient values, resources required, cost effectiveness, equity, feasibility, and acceptability.

RESULTS: For healing a neuropathic plantar forefoot or midfoot ulcer in a person with diabetes, use a non-removable knee-high offloading device as the first-choice offloading intervention. If contraindications or patient intolerance to non-removable offloading exist, consider using a removable knee-high or ankle-high offloading device as the second-choice offloading intervention. If no offloading devices are available, consider using appropriately fitting footwear combined with felted foam as the third-choice offloading intervention. If such a non-surgical offloading treatment fails to heal a plantar forefoot ulcer, consider an Achilles tendon lengthening, metatarsal head resection, joint arthroplasty, or metatarsal osteotomy. For healing a neuropathic plantar or apex lesser digit ulcer secondary to flexibile toe deformity, use digital flexor tendon tenotomy. For healing rearfoot, non-plantar or ulcers complicated with infection or ischaemia, further recommendations have been outlined. All recommendations have been summarised in an offloading clinical pathway to help facilitate the implementation of this guideline into clinical practice.

CONCLUSION: These offloading guideline recommendations should help healthcare professionals provide the best care and outcomes for persons with diabetes-related foot ulcers and reduce the person's risk of infection, hospitalisation and amputation.

Purpose: The aim was to investigate the associations between cognitive impairment and biopsychosocial factors among older stroke survivors and predictors of poststroke return to daily life.

Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study involved 117 stroke survivors (61% men) with an average age of 77 years (range 65-91). The participants completed two questionnaires (Riksstroke and Short Form 36 questionnaires). The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was used to assess cognitive abilities. The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework guided the selection of biopsychosocial variables. We used Spearman's correlation coefficient and multiple logistic regression in the analyses.

Results: The average MoCA score was 21.7 points (range: 4-30, SD 5.6). The need for assistance from relatives and professionals, need for help with dressing and household chores, reliance on others for mobility, and reading and balance problems were correlated with more severe cognitive impairment (r = 0.20-0.33). Cognitive impairment, fatigue, and balance issues predicted an unfavorable return to daily life (odds ratio: 6.2-6.8).

Conclusion: The study indicated that cognitive impairment is associated with difficulties in all ICF domains. Cognitive impairment, fatigue, and balance issues are associated with an unsuccessful return to daily life. Prioritizing these factors and screening for cognitive impairment with objective assessment tools may improve rehabilitation outcomes and enhance overall quality of life poststroke.

Adherence to prescribed footwear is essential to prevent diabetes-related foot ulcers. The aim was to compare different measures of adherence and wearing time of prescribed footwear with a reference adherence measure, among people with diabetes at high risk of foot ulceration. We followed 53 participants for 7 consecutive days. A temperature sensor measured wearing time of prescribed footwear and a triaxial accelerometer assessed weight-bearing activities. Subjective wearing time was self-reported. Reference adherence measure was proportion of weight-bearing time prescribed footwear was worn. We calculated Spearman's correlation coefficients, kappa coefficients, and areas under the curve (AUC) for the association between the reference measure and other measures of adherence and wearing time. Proportion of daily steps with prescribed footwear worn had a very strong association (r = 0.96, Κ = 0.93; AUC: 0.96-1.00), objective wearing time had a strong association (r = 0.91, Κ = 0.85, AUC: 0.89-0.99), and subjective wearing time had a weak association (r = 0.42, Κ = 0.38, AUC: 0.67-0.81) with the reference measure. Objectively measured proportion of daily steps with prescribed footwear is a valid measure of footwear adherence. Objective wearing time is reasonably valid, and may be used in clinical practice and for long-term measurements. Subjective wearing time is not recommended to be used.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and impact of stroke-related comorbidity in a community-based sample of stroke survivors. With respect to the patients’ functional outcomes and general health, we wanted to find out which types of comorbidity were most important.

Materials and Methods: All stroke survivors (n = 330) living in a medium-sized Swedish municipality were included. To determine the presence of comorbidities patient records were reviewed. A selection of patient reported outcomes were used to assess subjective symptoms, functional outcomes, and general health. All patients were asked to answer a questionnaire, the Swedish Stroke Register (Riksstroke). Three questions from the questionnaire were used as additional measures of comorbidity. “Do you feel tired?,” “Do you have pain?” and “Do you feel depressed?” As outcome measures the patient reported measures from the Riksstroke questionnaire were used: * Do you still have problems after your stroke? * Have you been able to return to the life and activities you had before the stroke? * How is your mobility now? * Do you get help from someone when visiting the toilet? * Do you get help with dressing and undressing? * How do you assess your general health? Logistic regression models were used to investigate the association between comorbidities, residual symptoms, and subjective symptoms on the one hand, and functional outcomes and general health on the other hand.

Results: Hypertension (80%) was the most common cardiovascular risk factor. Ischemic heart disease was found in 18% and congestive heart failure in 10%. Of non-cardiovascular disorders, orthopedic diseases were commonest (30%). Psychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment were present in 11% and 12% respectively. Logistic regression analyses found that hemiparesis was associated with both poorer functional outcomes and lower general health. Additionally, orthopedic disorders, vertigo, cognitive impairment, nicotine use, chronic pulmonary disorders, and older age, were also associated with poorer functional outcomes. Psychiatric, orthopedic and neurological disorders were associated with poorer general health. The patient-reported outcome measure “feeling of tiredness” was a predictor of both outcomes, while “feeling depressed” and “having pain” were associated with poorer general health.

Conclusions: Many medical conditions, several of which have received little attention so far, are associated with poorer functional outcome and lower general health among stroke survivors. Future research into comorbidities relevant to function and general health in stroke patients could further focus on these disorders that hitherto have received little attention.

BACKGROUND: Offloading treatment is crucial to heal diabetes-related foot ulcers (DFU). This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of offloading interventions for people with DFU.

METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane databases, and trials registries for all studies relating to offloading interventions in people with DFU to address 14 clinical question comparisons. Outcomes included ulcers healed, plantar pressure, weight-bearing activity, adherence, new lesions, falls, infections, amputations, quality of life, costs, cost-effectiveness, balance, and sustained healing. Included controlled studies were independently assessed for risk of bias and had key data extracted. Meta-analyses were performed when outcome data from studies could be pooled. Evidence statements were developed using the GRADE approach when outcome data existed.

RESULTS: From 19,923 studies screened, 194 eligible studies were identified (47 controlled, 147 non-controlled), 35 meta-analyses performed, and 128 evidence statements developed. We found non-removable offloading devices likely increase ulcers healed compared to removable offloading devices (risk ratio [RR] 1.24, 95% CI 1.09-1.41; N = 14, n = 1083), and may increase adherence, cost-effectiveness and decrease infections, but may increase new lesions. Removable knee-high offloading devices may make little difference to ulcers healed compared to removable ankle-high offloading devices (RR 1.00, 0.86-1.16; N = 6, n = 439), but may decrease plantar pressure and adherence. Any offloading device may increase ulcers healed (RR 1.39, 0.89-2.18; N = 5, n = 235) and cost-effectiveness compared to therapeutic footwear and may decrease plantar pressure and infections. Digital flexor tenotomies with offloading devices likely increase ulcers healed (RR 2.43, 1.05-5.59; N = 1, n = 16) and sustained healing compared to devices alone, and may decrease plantar pressure and infections, but may increase new transfer lesions. Achilles tendon lengthening with offloading devices likely increase ulcers healed (RR 1.10, 0.97-1.27; N = 1, n = 64) and sustained healing compared to devices alone, but likely increase new heel ulcers.

CONCLUSIONS: Non-removable offloading devices are likely superior to all other offloading interventions to heal most plantar DFU. Digital flexor tenotomies and Achilles tendon lengthening in combination with offloading devices are likely superior for some specific plantar DFU locations. Otherwise, any offloading device is probably superior to therapeutic footwear and other non-surgical offloading interventions to heal most plantar DFU. However, all these interventions have low-to-moderate certainty of evidence supporting their outcomes and more high-quality trials are needed to improve our certainty for the effectiveness of most offloading interventions.

Background and aims: Risk factors for lower limb amputation (LLA) in individuals with diabetes have been under-studied. We examined how demographic and socioeconomic, medical and life-style risk factors may be associated with LLA in people with newly diagnosed diabetes.

Materials and methods: We conducted a cohort study using Swedish national register-linked data. We identified, through the Swedish national diabetes register, all individuals 18 years or older with an incident diabetes diagnosis and no previous amputation from 2007 to 2016. These individuals were followed from the date of the diagnosis to amputation, emigration, death, or the end of the study in 2017, whichever occurred first. Several national Swedish registers were used to obtain data on incident LLA and potential risk factors, including demographic and socioeconomic, medical and lifestyle variables. Variables with more than 40% missing data were excluded from the analysis. The cohort consisted of 66,569 individuals, where of 133 hadan amputation. Cox proportional hazards models were used to obtain hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for associations between demographic and socioeconomic, medical and lifestyle vari-ables and amputation risk. Both unadjusted and mutually adjusted models were fitted.

Results: During the median follow-up time of 4 years there were in total 133 LLA. Based on the model mutually adjusting for all variables, higher age, HR 1.08 (95% CI, 1.05 - 1.10) per year, and being divorced compared with being married, HR 1.67 (1.07 - 2.60) showed positive association. Male sex indicated higher risk, HR 1.57 (1.06 - 2.34). Individuals with an increased foot risk at baseline had increased risk for LLA compared to individuals with healthy feet (neuropathy/angiopathy, HR 4.12 (2.84 - 5.98), previous wounds, HR 8.26 (3.29 - 20.74), ongoing severe foot disease, HR 11.24 (4.82 - 26.23). Insulin treatment compared with diet-only treatment showed HR 2.03 (1.10 - 3.74). Hypertension and HbA1c were not statistically significantly associated with LLA risk. People with obesity had a statistically significant lower risk, HR 0.46 (0.29 - 0.75), compared with individuals with normal weight. Smoking was associated with an increased risk compared with no smoking, HR 1.99 (1.28 - 3.09). Finally, low physical activity (<1 time/week) was associated with an increased risk with a HR of 2.05 (1.30 - 3.23) compared with daily physical activity.

Conclusion: This study found a higher risk for LLA among people with higher age, male sex, who were divorced, who had a higher foot risk group, who were on insulin treatment, lower physical activity levels, and who were smoking. Obesity was associated with lower risk for LLA. Thus, these variables may have important roles in LLA risk among individuals with diabetes.