The risk is real.

From 2006 to 2010, more than 1 million patients went to the emergency department fordiabetes-related foot complications, and 10.5 percent of those involved an amputation, according to a new study published in PLOS One. Despite the alarming rate of those who wind up in the hospital for this serious diabetes complication, only a small percentage of patients take preventive steps to avoid losing lower limbs.