Introduction:

Vascular and neuropathic complications of diabetes cause diabetic foot, being the main risk factor for non-traumatic amputations.

Objective:

To analyze the available scientific evidence on lifestyle and self-care of patients at risk of diabetic foot.

Methodology:

Literature review using the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses methodology; published in EBSCO host, Google academic, PubMed, Scielo and Elsevier; in English and Spanish from 2016 to 2022. Nursing articles were included, mentioning two or more variables of interest: diabetes mellitus, lifestyle, diabetic foot, and self-care; duplicates, no access, and gray literature were eliminated. From a total of 1,080 articles, 14 were included that met the inclusion criteria. Checklists were used to assess the quality of the manuscripts used.

Results:

Systematic reviews, observational, experimental and qualitative studies showed evidence that self-care can be influenced by culture, context and knowledge deficit, being this a risk factor for the development of diabetic foot. An association was found between the risk of diabetic foot with years of diagnosis, inadequate self-care of the feet and advanced age.

Conclusion:

The association between the self-care deficit and the risk of diabetic foot in the elderly was evidenced. It is recommended to broaden the search and include people under 40 years of age in order to establish effective preventive measures and reduce the risk of diabetic foot.