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People with diabetic foot frequently exhibit gait and balance dysfunction. Recent advances in wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) enable to assess some of the gait and balance dysfunction associated with diabetic foot (i.e., digital biomarkers of gait and balance). However, there is no review to inform digital biomarkers of gait and balance dysfunction related to diabetic foot, measurable by wearable IMUs (e.g., what gait and balance parameters can wearable IMUs collect? Are the measurements repeatable?). Accordingly, we conducted a web-based, mini review using PubMed. Our search was limited to human subjects and English-written papers published in peer-reviewed journals. We identified 20 papers in this mini review. We found preliminary evidence of digital biomarkers of gait and balance dysfunction in people with diabetic foot, such as slow gait speed, large gait variability, unstable gait initiation, and large body sway. However, due to heterogeneities in included papers in terms of study design, movement tasks, and small sample size, more studies are recommended to confirm this preliminary evidence. Additionally, based on our mini review, we recommend establishing appropriate strategies to successfully incorporate wearable-based assessment into clinical practice for diabetic foot care.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and extent of lower extremity Mönckeberg's Medial Calcific Sclerosis (MMCS) in patients with and without diabetes in patients admitted to the hospital for foot infections. This study retrospectively reviewed 446 patients admitted to the hospital with a moderate or severe foot infection. We defined diabetes based on ADA criteria and reviewed electronic medical records for demographics, medical history and physical examination data. Anteriorposterior and lateral foot radiographs were examined to identify the presence and extent of vascular calcification. We categorised MMCS based on anatomical location: ankle joint to the navicular-cuneiform joint, Lis Franc joint to metatarsophalangeal joints and distal to the metatarsophalangeal joints. The prevalence of MMCS was 40.6%. The anatomic extent of MMCS was 19.3% in the toes, 34.3% in the metatarsals and 40.6% in the hindfoot/ankle. Calcification was not common solely in the dorsalis pedis artery (DP) (3.8%) or solely in the posterior tibial artery (PT) (7.0%). Usually, both DP and PT arteries were affected by MMCS (29.8%). The prevalence of MMCS was higher in people with diabetes (in hindfoot and ankle [50.1% vs. 9.9%, p ≤ 0.01]; metatarsals [42.6% vs. 5.9%, p ≤ 0.01]; and toes [23.8% vs. 4.0%, p ≤ 0.01]). People with diabetes were 8.9 (CI: 4.5-17.8) times more likely to have MMCS than those without diabetes. This is a group that often has poor perfusion and needs vascular assessment.The high prevalence of MMCS raises questions about the reliability of the conventional segmental arterial Doppler studies to diagnose PAD.