In this study, a national prevalent cohort of 302,339 NZ patients with diabetes diagnosed between 2005 and 2014 was followed until the end of 2014 for major and minor lower-limb amputation and subsequent postoperative mortality. The analysis included 6,352 lower-limb amputations (2,570 major amputations, 3,782 minor amputations). Among the patients who underwent a major amputation, 11.1% died within 30 days and 17.6% died within 90 days. Māori and patients aged >75 years were consistently more likely to die in the postoperative period. Cox proportional hazards analysis failed to demonstrate that sex, deprivation, rurality, hospital volume, admission type, and patient comorbidity were consistently or substantially independently associated with risk of postoperative mortality.
