Introduction: Foot infections are a common complication of type 2 diabetes. However, the clinical sequelae of diabetic foot infection (DFI) in the general population remain poorly characterized.
Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort analysis of 1,451 participants with diabetes (mean age, 63 years [SD: 5.6]; 33% black; 47% female) in the ARIC study (visit 4: 1996-1998) . DFI was ascertained using ICD-9/codes from Medicare claims and hospital discharge records. We used Kaplan-Meier analyses to estimate the 5-year cumulative incidence of nontraumatic lower-extremity amputation (NLEA) , major fall, cardiovascular disease (CVD) [coronary heart disease, stroke, or heart failure], and death following incident DFI. We evaluated the association between incident DFI (modeled as a time-varying exposure) and the subsequent risk of clinical outcomes with Cox models.
Results: During over two decades of follow-up (1996-1998 to 2017) , there were 328 incident DFIs, 72 NLEAs, 502 major falls, 748 CVD events, and 915 deaths. Following incident DFI, the five-year cumulative incidence of major clinical outcomes ranged from 14.7% (NLEA) to 38.6% (death) (Fig 1a) . Incident DFI was significantly associated with all clinical outcomes after multivariable adjustment (Fig 1b) .
Conclusion: DFI is a high-risk marker for major morbidity and mortality in the general population of adults with diabetes.
M.Fang: n/a. J.Hu: None. K.Matsushita: Consultant; Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Other Relationship; Fukuda Denshi, Research Support; Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. E.Selvin: Other Relationship; Wolters Kluwer. C.W.Hicks: None.
HHS (N268201700001I) , HHS (N268201700002I) , HHS (N268201700003I) , HHS (N268201700005I) , HHS (N268201700004I) , NHLBI (K24HL152440)
