Peripheral Arterial Disease

Ankle-brachial index predicts renal outcomes and all-cause mortality in high cardiovascular risk population: a nationwide prospective cohort study in CORE project

BACKGROUND

Low ankle-brachial index (ABI) related ischemic events are common among individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD). It is also associated with an increased risk of rapid renal function decline. The presence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) with low ABI among patients with high cardiovascular (CV) risk increases limb loss and mortality.

AIMS

To estimate the association between abnormal ABI and renal endpoints and all-cause mortality.

METHODS

A multicenter prospective cohort study was conducted among subjects with high CV risk or established CV diseases in Thailand. The subjects were divided into 3 groups based on ABI at baseline > 1.3, 0.91-1.3, and ≤ 0.9, respectively. Primary composite outcome consisted of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decline over 40%, eGFR less than 15 mL/min/1.73 m², doubling of serum creatinine and initiation of dialysis. The secondary outcome was all-cause mortality. Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier curve were performed.

RESULTS

A total of 5543 subjects (3005 men and 2538 women) were included. Cox proportional hazards model showed a significant relationship of low ABI (ABI ≤ 0.9) and primary composite outcome and all-cause mortality. Compared with the normal ABI group (ABI 0.91-1.3), subjects with low ABI at baseline significantly had 1.42-fold (95% CI 1.02-1.97) and 2.03-fold (95% CI 1.32-3.13) risk for the primary composite outcome and all-cause mortality, respectively, after adjusting for variable factors.

CONCLUSION

Our study suggested that PAD independently predicts the incidence of renal progression and all-cause mortality among Thai patients with high CV risk.

Prevalência e fatores de risco da doença arterial periférica sintomática e assintomática em hospital terciário, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

CONTEXTO: Doença arterial periférica é caracterizada pelo índice tornozelo-braquial (ITB) < 0,90, em indivíduos ≥ 40 anos, aumentando a prevalência com a idade. OBJETIVO: Detectar a prevalência de doença arterial periférica assintomática e sintomática, com introdução do ITB, associada a fatores de risco demarcados. MÉTODOS: Coorte descritiva identificada em unidade hospitalar terciária de angiologia, de dezembro de 2006 a dezembro de 2007, com idade ≥ 30 anos. Doenças pregressas e fatores de risco foram analisados associados à prevalência. ITB < 0,90 e questionário padronizado definiram doença arterial periférica sintomática com claudicação e assintomática com ausência de claudicação, ambas comparadas aos sem doença arterial periférica (ITB 0,90-1,30). A análise estatística utilizou programa SPSS, com significância de p < 0,05. RESULTADOS: Dos 407 pacientes, 248 apresentaram doença arterial periférica, sendo 52,2% do sexo feminino, com média de idade de 70,1±10,2 anos (p < 0,005). A prevalência de 60,9% (IC95% 56-66) foi subdividida em: assintomática, 10,1% (IC95% 6,3-13,8); e sintomática, 89,9% (IC95% 86,2-93,7). Destes, 32,2% (IC95% 26,4-38,1) apresentaram isquemia crítica. Ajustada por sexo e idade, a prevalência aumenta significativamente entre 55-74 anos, com predomínio do feminino (1,35:1) nos indivíduos acima de 74 anos. A prevalência dos assintomáticos e sintomáticos foi influenciada por tabagismo, hipertensão, diabéticos autorreferidos e confirmados, sobrepeso, infarto agudo do miocárdio e acidente vascular encefálico (p < 0,005). A média do ITB foi mais baixa nos sintomáticos (0,57±0,17) (p < 0,005). CONCLUSÃO: O ITB detectou doença arterial periférica com graus variáveis de gravidade associada a fatores de risco, identificando os assintomáticos não-claudicantes e os sintomáticos em unidade terciária.

Current endovascular treatment of peripheral arterial disease

Atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease is a common medical problem worldwide and portends a poor prognosis because of increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Regular exercise, weight loss, and aggressive risk factor modification, including treatment of dyslipidemia and complete cessation of smoking, is extremely important in this high-risk cohort. Vascular surgery in these patients, who often have concomitant coronary or cerebrovascular atherosclerosis, is associated with significant risk. Steady improvements in endovascular revascularization techniques have made this a safe and effective alternate revascularization modality. Percutaneous peripheral vascular interventions have increased dramatically in recent years, from 90,000 in 1994 to more than 200,000 in 1997, and endovascular techniques may soon replace up to 50% of traditional vascular operations. In this article, the authors review the current state of interventional treatment for peripheral arterial disease.

Cholesterol reduction with atorvastatin improves walking distance in patients with peripheral arterial disease

BACKGROUND

Cholesterol modification reduces cardiovascular events in patients with atherosclerosis, including those with peripheral arterial disease. The purpose of this study was to determine whether cholesterol lowering with atorvastatin improves walking performance in patients with intermittent claudication.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This randomized, double-blind, parallel-design study included 354 persons with claudication attributable to peripheral arterial disease. Patients were treated with placebo, atorvastatin (10 mg per day), or atorvastatin (80 mg per day) for 12 months. The outcome measures included change in treadmill exercise time and patient-reported measures of physical activity and quality of life based on questionnaires. Maximal walking time after 12 months of treatment with atorvastatin did not change significantly. However, there was improvement in pain-free walking time after 12 months of treatment for the 80-mg (P=0.025) group compared with placebo. A physical activity questionnaire demonstrated improvement in ambulatory ability for the 10- and 80-mg groups (P=0.011), whereas 2 quality of life instruments, the Walking Impairment Questionnaire and Short Form 36 Questionnaire, did not show significant change.

CONCLUSIONS

Atorvastatin improves pain-free walking distance and community-based physical activity in patients with intermittent claudication. When treated with atorvastatin, patients with peripheral arterial disease may experience improvement in symptoms to complement the anticipated reduction in cardiovascular events reported in other studies of statins.

Erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume associated with severity of peripheral arterial disease: an angiographic evaluation

Elevated erythrocyte mean corpuscular volume (MCV) may be a risk factor for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether MCV was associated with the severity of atherosclerotic findings in the lower limbs of PAD patients, as measured by an angiographic scoring system based on vessel lumen reduction. One hundred male patients with symptomatic PAD were studied. MCV was significantly correlated with the angiographic score (rs = 0.247, p = 0.013). PAD patients with an angiographic score in the lower third were compared to those with values in the upper third using a logistic regression model with age, smoking, hypertension, MCV, homocysteine, and total cholesterol and triglycerides as independent variables. This model revealed significant odds ratios (OR) for MCV (OR = 2.02 for an increment of 5 fl, 95% CI = 1.08-3.8) and for age (OR = 2.41 for an increment of 10 years, 95% CI = 1.21-4.81) and facilitated classification of 71% of all subjects correctly. In conclusion, MCV may be associated with angiographically determined disease severity in patients with PAD. This finding supports the hypothesis that MCV is a risk factor for PAD, although the mechanism by which MCV may contribute to the presence and severity of the disease is not yet determined.