Leg and foot amputations have risen significantly in Illinois in recent years, according to a new report from researchers at Northwestern Medicine. [Health News Illinois]

The rate of amputations in Illinois hospitals rose 65 percent between 2016 and 2023, driven by a growing prevalence of diabetes and peripheral artery disease.

The rise comes despite drops in rates of smoking and improvements in medical therapies that researchers said should be driving down the need for amputations.

“Despite our medical advances, we’re not reaching all the communities that need it,” said Dr. Maggie Reilly, the report’s co-author and a vascular surgery resident at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. “It’s creating this bigger divide between people who are getting the necessary preventive care and those who aren’t.”

Researchers found Black Illinoisans are disproportionately impacted, making up a quarter of all amputees reported during the time period. 

Along with the physical and mental burden on patients that undergo such procedures, researchers noted that other reports have found that nearly 50 percent of patients who undergo an above-knee amputation will die in the next 12 months because of the nature of systemic disease.

“Unless we make changes in how we care for marginalized communities, I don’t anticipate this getting better,” Reilly said.

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