Who Can Get Charcot Foot?

The Charcot foot was identified as early as 1703 by English physician William Musgrave and again by the American physician John Kearsley Mitchell in 1831, but it was Jean-Martin Charcot, a 19th century French neurologist, who first described the underlying pathology of the condition that now bears his name. In 1936 Charcot foot was linked to neuropathy as a result of diabetes mellitus.

Even so, many people have asked why the Charcot foot is still an unknown with many doctors! This is where YOU come in, the more we post and question this, the more attention it will be given.

The prevalence of diabetes in 2007 was 16 million Americans with 10.3 million diagnosed and 8.1 million women (NWHIC); 65 per 1000 - NHIS95; 8 million - perhaps 16 million if include not-yet-diagnosed. That's approx 1 in 17 or 5.88% or 16 million people in USA with diabetes!

(See other country rates here: http://www.cureresearch.com/d/diabetes/stats-country.htm)

About 60 to 70 percent of people with diabetes have some form of neuropathy. People with diabetes can develop nerve problems at any time, but risk rises with age and longer duration of diabetes. The highest rates of neuropathy are among people who have had diabetes for at least 25 years. Diabetic neuropathies also appear to be more common in people who have problems controlling their blood glucose, also called blood sugar, as well as those with high levels of blood fat and blood pressure and those who are overweight.

http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/neuropathies/
http://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabetes/diabetic-neuropathy.jsp

According to the American Diabetes Association, 60–70% of people with diabetes develop peripheral nerve damage that can lead to Charcot foot and about 0.5% of these patients develop the condition. In most cases, onset occurs after the age of 50, and after the patient has had diabetes for 15 to 20 years. 0.5% doesn't sound like many but consider that as of December 2008 there is an estimated 24 million Americans struggling with diabetes (up more than 3 million people since 2005), 0.5% becomes a lot of people!

Of Veterans Affairs users with diabetes, 652 (0.12%) were newly diagnosed with Charcot arthropathy in 2003. Compared with persons without obesity or peripheral neuropathy, those with obesity alone were approximately 59% more likely, those with neuropathy alone were 14 times more likely, and those with both obesity and neuropathy were 21 times more likely to develop Charcot arthropathy. Ages 55 to 64 years, diabetes duration 6 years or more, hemoglobin-A1c 7% or more, renal failure, arthritis, and iron deficiency anemia also were associated with an increased incidence of Charcot arthropathy.

http://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343%2808%2900790-0/abstract

Charcot arthropathy is most common in patients with Diabetes with a prevalence as high as 13% in high risk patients. Additionally, it is also associated with alcoholism, Hansen's Disease, Spina Bifida, congenital insensitivity to pain, syringomyelia, dialysis, and peripheral nerve injuries.

Testing for neuropathy is a simple test that your Doctor can do right in the office. Using a tuning fork, the Doctor can tell if you have neuropathy in your feet. Other tests including MRIs and Bone Scans can determine if you are at risk for Charcot Foot. If you Doctor is not doing a pulse check or a tuning fork check on your feet at each visit, ask why! They're your feet - protect them!