Dr. Sharath Explains What It Takes to Prevent Limb Loss

By Office of the President | Oct 20, 2026

Losing a leg can affect nearly every part of a person’s life, from working and getting around to living independently. Research led by Sherene E. Sharath, Ph.D., MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery and Director of Clinical and Health Services Research, looks beyond the operating room to better understand who faces greater risk and how patients’ circumstances and hospital resources may play a role.

Her team’s study, published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery, drew attention from Vascular Specialist, a publication of the Society for Vascular Surgery, and TCTMD, the cardiovascular news and education platform produced by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. Vascular Specialist reported on the findings, while TCTMD featured Dr. Sharath in a video interview.

The researchers examined nearly 2.8 million inpatient admissions from 1993 through 2021, including approximately 348,000 major leg amputations. They looked at differences in risk by neighborhood income, race, ethnicity, and the proportion of Medicaid patients a hospital served.

The findings showed that elevated amputation risk, once concentrated in the most disadvantaged hospital settings, had spread across more hospitals serving substantial Medicaid populations. The link between lower neighborhood income and amputation risk also grew stronger. The researchers also identified persistent racial disparities, with Black patients facing elevated amputation risk.

How does this affect patients? Preventing limb loss takes more than improvements in surgical treatment. Patients also need timely evaluation, ongoing care, and follow-up, and hospitals need the resources to provide those services. The findings point to the importance of addressing barriers patients face and strengthening the hospitals that care for them.

That connection matters at Downstate. Our teams see how financial pressures and difficulty accessing services can affect patients’ care. Dr. Sharath’s research helps bring those experiences into discussions about where resources and changes in care delivery may make a difference.

The study does not establish the cause of any individual patient’s amputation. It does, however, identify patterns that can help guide efforts to reduce disparities and preserve patients’ mobility and independence.

Congratulations to Dr. Sharath, Sundar Natarajan, M.D., from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine; biostatistician Dewi Sihaloho, MPH; surgery residents Claire Ferguson, M.D., and Steven Medvedovsky, M.D.; medical student Tony Joseph, BS; and Department of Surgery Chair Panos Kougias, M.D., MSc on this recognition and their work to better understand and help prevent limb loss.

Learn more: Read the Vascular Specialist report | Watch Dr. Sharath’s TCTMD interview.

Tags: Surgery