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. 2023 Aug 27;13(9):1312.
doi: 10.3390/jpm13091312.

Foot Temperature by Infrared Thermography in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease before and after Structured Home-Based Exercise: A Gender-Based Observational Study

Anna Crepaldi  1   2   3 , Lorenzo Caruso  4 , Giovanni Piva  5 , Luca Traina  6 , Vincenzo Gasbarro  6   7 , Roberto Manfredini  7   8 , Nicola Lamberti  9 , Natascia Rinaldo  9 , Fabio Manfredini  9   10 , Pablo Jesus Lopez-Soto  1   2   3
Affiliations

Foot Temperature by Infrared Thermography in Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease before and after Structured Home-Based Exercise: A Gender-Based Observational Study

Anna Crepaldi et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Decreased arterial perfusion is a typical condition of patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD), with the microvascular picture particularly present among women. This observational study aimed to detect foot perfusion changes by infrared thermography (IRT) after a home-based exercise program in both sexes. A total of 76 PAD patients with claudication (72 ± 4 years; 52 males) were enrolled in a structured in-home exercise program composed of two daily 8 min interval walking sessions (1:1 walk:rest ratio) with progressively increasing speed. Outcome measures collected at baseline (T0) and at each hospital visit after 5 weeks, 12 weeks and 20 weeks included foot temperature measured by IRT (anterior tibial, posterior tibial, dorsalis pedis and arcuate artery regions), ankle brachial index and the 6 min walking test. After 20 weeks, foot temperature in both limbs showed a significant increasing trend, with a mean variation of 1.3 °C for the more impaired limb and 0.9 °C for the contralateral limb (t = 8.88, p < 0.001 and t = 5.36; p < 0.001, respectively), with significant changes occurring after 5 weeks of training. The sex-oriented analysis did not highlight any significant difference, with an improvement of mean foot temperature of 1.5 ± 0.6 °C in females versus 1.2 ± 0.5 °C in males (p = 0.42). Ankle brachial index and performance also significantly improved over time (p < 0.001) without gender differences. In patients with PAD, a structured low-intensity exercise program significantly improved foot temperature and exercise capacity without any sex-related difference.

Keywords: claudication; exercise; exercise testing; exercise therapy; gender differences; infrared thermography; noninvasive; peripheral artery disease.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
STROBE flow diagram of the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overtime variations in foot temperature in a single patient across the four time points of collection.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Rank correlation between variations in foot temperature and variations in ABI after the exercise program. Legend: blue squares, men; red circles, women.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Overtime variations in mean foot temperature in the more impaired (A) and less impaired limb (B) in males (blue) and females (red).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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