Using ankle-brachial index to detect peripheral arterial disease: prevalence and associated risk factors in a random population sample.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is being used increasingly to diagnose peripheral arterial disease (PAD) that predicts cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of PAD and associated risk factors in a Spanish random population sample of age > or =40.

METHODS AND RESULTS: PAD is defined as an ABI<0.9 in either leg. 784 participants of age > or =40 were randomly selected in a Spanish province. 55.4% of them were female. The prevalence of PAD in this sample was 10.5% (95% confidence interval (CI) 8.4-12.8); 9.7% in females and 11.4% in males. In logistic regression analyses, adjusted for age and gender, smoking per 10 pack-years (odds ratio (OR) 1.40, 95% CI 1.23-1.58), hypertension (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.05-3.28), hypercholesterolemia (OR 1.76, 95% CI 1.04-2.98), and diabetes (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.04-3.11) were positively associated with prevalent PAD. More than 91% of persons with PAD had one or more cardiovascular disease risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that in our study hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus and smoking are associated with PAD. The majority of individuals with PAD had at least one important cardiovascular risk factor advanced enough to be considered eligible for an aggressive treatment.