Abstract
Lower-limb amputation is traumatic and life-altering for individual patients, and resource-intensive for the health system serving them. While some lower-limb amputations occur in healthy populations following accidents or other acute trauma, most arise from chronic conditions, including peripheral vascular disease and diabetes mellitus.1,2 The rate of lower-limb amputation (and temporal changes in the rate) has not been well-documented in New Zealand, nor has the contribution of diabetes to this rate been quantified at a national level.