A team of researchers set out to determine if there are racial disparities in prosthesis abandonment and mobility outcomes in veterans who have undergone their first major unilateral lower-limb amputation due to diabetes and/or peripheral artery disease.
The national cohort study identified 357 individuals retrospectively through the Veterans Affairs Corporate Data Warehouse from March 1, 2018, to November 30, 2020, then prospectively collected their self-reported prosthesis abandonment and mobility data. Multiple logistic regression was used to control for potential confounders and identify potential effect modifiers.
Outcome measures were self-reported prosthesis abandonment and level of mobility assessed with the Locomotor Capabilities Index.
The results indicated that rurally located non-Hispanic Black individuals without a major depressive disorder had increased odds of abandoning their prosthesis. This disparity was nearly three times as large for rurally located non-Hispanic Black individuals with a major depressive disorder diagnosis, compared with other races from rural areas and with a major depressive disorder.
Non-Hispanic Black individuals living in an urban area were significantly less likely to achieve advanced mobility, both with and without a major depressive disorder.
The open-access study, “Racial disparities in prosthesis abandonment and mobility outcomes after lower limb amputation from a dysvascular etiology in a veteran population,” was published in PM&R.
