Diabetes high on research agenda for Khalifa University

Students are looking at preventing foot problems associated with the disease and creating a shoe insert with sensors.

ABU DHABI // With type 2 diabetes affecting 20 per cent of the Emirati population, the condition is high on the agenda for research students at Khalifa University.

One major project under way looks at preventing foot problems associated with diabetes, commonly where the patient loses sensation and does not realise when complications have begun to occur, such as an ulcer.

Students are working to create a shoe insert with sensors that can read signals such as heat and humidity, and alert medical staff and the patient to problems. Without this intervention, there is often a risk of amputation.

Dr Kinda Khalaf is the academic leading the research, and said early detection was critical for such patients.

In the UAE, one diabetic in five who develops foot ulcers will require limb amputation, which is now at 19 per cent annually.

Dr Khalaf said what makes the insole her students have created unique is the local focus.

The inserts are adapted for the UAE environment and able to withstand high temperature and humidity and can be worn with open shoes and sandals.

The students, who begin their research as soon as they enter university, have access to teams at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in Abu Dhabi and Tawam Hospital in Al Ain, among others.

Khaled Abdelraouf, in his third year, began his diabetes foot research 18 months ago and has been analysing pressure points of non-sufferers. Through SKMC, he and his team have access to 400 patients, to work with them as research subjects.

“Because of the lower circulation among sufferers, the distribution of pressure will be quite different from sufferers to non-sufferers,” Kenana Aladem, a second-year student, said.

The group hopes to create a device that can be customised, with sensors placed according to the particular needs of the patient and their foot type. Other considerations are gait and arch height.

Mr Abdulraouf said access to such patients and links with the local medical providers has given a unique insight and advantage to the work they are doing in the university’s state-of-the art laboratories.

“It makes a huge difference and makes the work much more relevant to the real world,” he said.