Diabetes Foot Ulcer Prevention: A Review of Footwear Width Assessment for At-Risk Feet.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Diabetes-related foot ulceration (DFU) is often related to footwear fit. People with diabetes often have wider feet than in those without diabetes. Standards for evaluating footwear width in those at risk are therefore important.

Methods

We performed a systematic search with a narrative review to assess consensus in quantitative methods used to assess footwear width for people at risk of DFU within research studies, and how often footwear is considered too narrow or wide. Search terms included diabet*, footwear, fit, size and width. This returned 1397 results, with 16 studies included after full paper review.

Results

Three standards emerged, defining incorrectly fitting footwear as (1) one shoe size or (2) one width fitting larger or smaller than feet (4-7 

SUBMITTER: Jones PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12318611 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature