Reducing Diabetic Foot Complications
through a Multidisciplinary Chiropodist-Based Intervention
The ENABLE-CP CardioLink-4 Trial

Principal Investigators
Subodh Verma
MD, PhD, FRCSC
C. David Mazer
MD, FRCPC
Christopher T. M. Chan
MD, FRCPC
Charles
de Mestral
MD CM, FRCSC, PhD
Every 20 seconds a lower limb is amputated due to complications of diabetes. The risk of a person living with diabetes requiring a lower extremity amputation is ~23 times that of another without diabetes. The vast majority of all the lower extremity amputations in persons with diabetes are preceded by a foot ulcer and the mortality at 5 years for a person with a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is 2.5 times as high as the risk for an individual with diabetes who does not have a foot ulcer. DFUs can compromise quality-of life, and the direct as well as indirect impact of DFUs on the economic and health systems can be significant. Nearly 80% of people with diabetes do not receive foot care education, and up to 60% have never checked or had their feet examined.  ENABLE CardioLink-4 aims to determine if chiropodist/podiatrist care will lower amputation-related hospitalizations in those with diabetes undergoing dialysis.
Peer-reviewed funding received from:
  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research