Comment on: Lipsky et al. Developing and Validating a Risk Score for Lower-Extremity Amputation in Patients Hospitalized for a Diabetic Foot Infection. Diabetes Care 2011;34:1695–1700

We have carefully read the article by Lipsky et al. (1) who have developed a novel risk score for lower-extremity amputation (LEA) in patients hospitalized for a diabetic foot infection. For this purpose, the authors used data from a clinical research database of patients hospitalized in 97 acute-care hospitals in the U.S. that was compiled by CareFusion (CareFusion, Department of Clinical Research, Marlborough, MA). Lipsky et al. reported on a series of 3,018 patients who met the inclusion criteria for a diabetic foot infection that was culture-documented within 48 h of admission.This current series seems to be the same series and database that Lipsky et al. used for a previous study dealing …