SYDNEY, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Diabetic foot disease has mortality rates worse than many cancers and costs the Australian healthcare system 1.6 billion Australian dollars (1.16 billion U.S. dollars) a year, researchers said on Monday.

The research means that an "evidence-based" approach must be used to help deal with the country's "least known major health problem", researchers explained.

People with diabetes are more susceptible to infection and they would suffer from damaged nerves or blocked arteries in the legs, in turn leading to amputation.

Diabetic foot disease is now Australia's leading cause of amputation, the Medical Journal of Australia said in a statement about the latest analyses of the condition.

The foot disease claims an amputated limb about every two hours in Australia, giving it the second-highest diabetes-related amputation rate among OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries that is partially attributed to the lack of coordinated interdisciplinary treatment, said healthcare group Diabetic Foot Australia's co-chair Dr Peter Lazzarini.

Less than 10 percent of the 540 interdisciplinary services for the foot disease needed to manage its 50,000 Australian patients are available, estimated Lazzarini's team, whose analysis was published in the medical journal.

The researchers pointed to a strategy with key recommendations that should "put Australia firmly on an evidence-based pathway" to deal with the disease, including increasing access to care, subsidizing targeted treatment and implementing national models of interdisciplinary care.

"Investments in this plan should ensure not only a significant financial return on investment to the health budget but, more importantly, save the limbs and lives of Australians," they said.