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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2014 Jul;37(7):1982-9.
doi: 10.2337/dc13-2956. Epub 2014 Apr 23.

Prevention of recurrent foot ulcers with plantar pressure-based in-shoe orthoses: the CareFUL prevention multicenter randomized controlled trial

Jan S Ulbrecht  1 , Timothy Hurley  2 , David T Mauger  3 , Peter R Cavanagh  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Prevention of recurrent foot ulcers with plantar pressure-based in-shoe orthoses: the CareFUL prevention multicenter randomized controlled trial

Jan S Ulbrecht et al. Diabetes Care. 2014 Jul.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the efficacy of in-shoe orthoses that were designed based on shape and barefoot plantar pressure in reducing the incidence of submetatarsal head plantar ulcers in people with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, and a history of similar prior ulceration.

Research design and methods: Single-blinded multicenter randomized controlled trial with subjects randomized to wear shape- and pressure-based orthoses (experimental, n = 66) or standard-of-care A5513 orthoses (control, n = 64). Patients were followed for 15 months, until a study end point (forefoot plantar ulcer or nonulcerative plantar forefoot lesion) or to study termination. Proportional hazards regression was used for analysis.

Results: There was a trend in the composite primary end point (both ulcers and nonulcerative lesions) across the full follow-up period (P = 0.13) in favor of the experimental orthoses. This trend was due to a marked difference in ulcer occurrence (P = 0.007) but no difference in the rate of nonulcerative lesions (P = 0.76). At 180 days, the ulcer prevention effect of the experimental orthoses was already significant (P = 0.003) when compared with control, and the benefit of the experimental orthoses with respect to the composite end point was also significant (P = 0.042). The hazard ratio was 3.4 (95% CI 1.3-8.7) for the occurrence of a submetatarsal head plantar ulcer in the control compared with experimental arm over the duration of the study.

Conclusions: We conclude that shape- and barefoot plantar pressure-based orthoses were more effective in reducing submetatarsal head plantar ulcer recurrence than current standard-of-care orthoses, but they did not significantly reduce nonulcerative lesions.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00803608.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CONSORT diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A: Combined end point Kaplan-Meier curve. B: Ulcer end point Kaplan-Meier curve. C: Nonulcerative lesion end point Kaplan-Meier curve.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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