Prevalence and clinical profile and management of peripheral arterial disease in elderly patients with diabetes

Abstract

Introduction: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) increases with age and diabetes. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of PAD in an elderly population with diabetes.

Methods: This multicenter and cross-sectional study included patients >70 years, with an established diagnosis of diabetes. PAD was defined as those patients with a history of revascularization or amputation due to ischemia, or a pathological ankle-brachial index (ABI). Adequate blood pressure (BP), LDL cholesterol and HbA1c control were considered as <130/80 mm Hg, <100 mg⁄dL and <7.0%, respectively.

Results: A total of 1462 patients were included. The most frequent cardiovascular risk factor and cardiovascular disease were hypertension (80.37%) and PAD (60.60% overall; 83.2% of those assisted by vascular surgeons vs 31.9% of those attended by other medical specialists; p<0.001), respectively. However, when ABI was measured, 70.99% of the study population had PAD (80.2% of those assisted by vascular surgeons vs 59.6% of those attended by other medical specialists; p<0.001). The predictors for a pathological ABI included male gender, smoking, dyslipidemia, family history of premature cardiovascular disease, sedentary lifestyle, diabetic-related complications, heart and cerebrovascular diseases. Although risk factors control was very poor, it was even lower in patients with PAD.

Conclusions: The prevalence of PAD is high in diabetic elderly patients. The concomitance with other risk factors and cardiovascular diseases was very high. The ABI allowed increasing the diagnosis of PAD.