Objective: To investigate the difference and distribution of plantar pressure in normal Chinese population and diabetic patients and their influencing factors.
Methods: 1035 diabetic patients and 1022 normal subjects were evaluated by the "first step approach". Each trial included five acceptable separate barefoot walks across the EMED-AT system for each foot. The whole foot was divided into ten "masks", including the heel, midfoot, the first, second, third, fourth, fifth metatarsals, hallux, second toe and the third-to-fifth toes. The mean of maximum peak pressure (MPP) of each mask as calculated.
Results: The MPP were 410 +/- 122 and 427 +/- 128 kPa in left and right foot of diabetics while 415 +/- 113 and 428 +/- 116 kPa in left and right foot of normal subjects with P > 0.05. The top three places with the hight MPP value in the in diabetics and normal subjects were hallux > the second metatarsal > the third metatarsals in both left and right foot. The disease course, sex, age, BMI, WHR and history of foot ulcer had few influence on the plantar pressure in diabetics. The MPP in the diabetics with peripheral neuropathy (DPN) was higher than that of normal subjects, with no significant difference compared to that of non-DPN diabetics.
Conclusion: The plantar pressure in the diabetics is almost the same as that of the normal subjects, but with different distribution is different. Complication with DPN may lead to the increase of plantar pressure in the diabetic. But factors such as disease course, sex, age, BMI and WHR have few influence on MPP.