Correlation of Wound Prognosis with serum IL-6, ICAM-1 and sST2 in Patients with Diabetic Foot and Construction of a Nomogram Model

Diabetes foot (DF) is one of the most serious chronic complications of diabetes. This study explored the relationship between serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2) and wound prognosis in 210 DF patients between January 2019 and January 2024. 210 DF patients were divided into the good prognosis (n = 147) and poor prognosis (n = 63) group according to the prognosis. Comparative analysis revealed that levels of serum IL-6, ICAM-1 and sST2 in the poor prognosis group were all higher than those in the good prognosis group significantly ( P < .05). Multivariate logistic regression identified these 3 biomarkers as independent risk factors for poor wound healing ( P < .05). Positive correlations between serum IL-6 (r = 0.269), ICAM-1 (r = 0.302), sST2 (r = 0.289) levels and poor prognosis were confirmed through Pearson's correlation analysis. A prediction model was established to analyse their predictive value. The training and validation sets ROC curves had AUCs of 0.79 (0.71-0.87) and 0.75 (0.59-0.91) respectively. Calibration curves were plotted to evaluate the consistency of the model, and the results showed that the predictive value of the nomogram model was similar to that of the actual one. Decision curves were plotted, which showed that the nomogram had higher positive net benefit in the range of 20% to 60%. This study suggest that serum IL-6, ICAM-1, and sST2 levels may serve as valuable prognostic indicators for wound healing progression in DF patients, with combined biomarker assessment showing potential clinical utility for outcome prediction. The total sample size (n = 210), with validation set (n = 63) of this study are relatively limited and the representativeness is restricted, which may affect the universality of the research conclusions.