Foot-related conditions in hospitalised populations: a literature review

Background: No reviews have investigated foot-related conditions prevalence in hospitalised populations. This literature review reports foot-related conditions (foot wounds, foot infections, amputations, other) and foot risk factors (peripheral arterial disease [PAD], peripheral neuropathy [PN], foot deformity) prevalence in representative or specific hospitalised populations. Methods: Electronic databases were searched for publications between 1980 and 2011. Keywords and synonyms relating to foot-related conditions, foot risk factors, inpatients and prevalence were used. Studies reporting any foot-related conditions or foot risk factor prevalence in representative or specific hospitalised populations were included, and data were extracted. Results: Of 3,297 records identified, 141 studies were included; 27 in representative and 114 in specific inpatients. Foot wound prevalence was: 0.9-8.3% in representative and 0.1-96.4% in specific inpatients; foot infection: 0.1-1.1% in representative inpatients; amputation: 0.1-1.5% in representative, 0.2-82.5% in specific inpatients; PAD: 2.1-25.0% in representative, 9.0-72.0 in specific inpatients; and PN: 0.2-100% in specific inpatients. Conclusions: This review suggests foot wounds are the main foot-related condition in hospitalised populations. Indications are up to 25% of representative inpatients have a foot risk factor for a foot wound, up to 8% have a foot wound and up to 1.5% an amputation. These rates were higher in specific inpatients, particularly inpatients with chronic disease and major trauma.