New onset diabetes mellitus in patients presenting with extremity infections

Although a relationship between diabetes and extremity infections has been established, the current literature notes little regarding the initial diagnosis of a patient's diabetic condition being made at the time of presentation with an extremity infection. The current study is an analysis of patients with extremity infections being diagnosed with diabetes for the first time. A chart review of 1166 patients who were admitted to the orthopaedic infection service revealed 385 patients with an admission glucose of 120 mg/dL or greater. One hundred seventy-four of these patients (45%) were diagnosed with diabetes. Thirty of these 174 patients (17.2%) previously had not been diagnosed with diabetes.