News: SDOH risk factors linked with lower-limb amputations, study finds
As of 2021, there were more than 150,000 lower-limb amputations (LLA) that occurred throughout the U.S. The most common causes for these LLAs were diabetes mellitus, peripheral vascular disease, neuropathy, and trauma. In fact, approximately 80% of all vascular-related, lower-extremity amputations in the U.S are a result of complications from diabetes mellitus. The number of diabetes-related hospitalizations due to amputation doubled from 2009 to 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recently released a study that analyzed social determinants of health (SDOH) and other conditions associated with amputation in some of the United States’ most populated areas. The study pulled demographic, SDOH, and hospital information in 2017, JustCoding reported. The study found that the following factors corresponded with an increased risk of LLA:
- Diabetes
- Food insecurity
- Mental distress
- Living in a single-parent household
- Physical distress
- Physical inactivity
- Poverty and low socioeconomic status
- Smoking
- Unemployment
Some associated ICD-10-CM categories and codes for these factors include (but are not limited to):
- E08.- to E13.-, Diabetes mellitus
- R45.-, Symptoms and signs involving emotional state
- T65.22-, Toxic effect of tobacco cigarettes
- Z56.-,Problems related to employment and unemployment
- Z59.-, Problems related to housing and economic circumstances
- Z72.0, Tobacco use
The study also found that African Americans had an increased risk for LLA, especially in areas with higher degrees of racial segregation. By analyzing these environmental factors and their association with the risk of LLA, the “rates can be quantified and potentially used to guide interventions at the local level,” the study concluded.
Editor’s note: To read JustCoding’s coverage of this story, click here. To read the full JAMA study, click here.