Although peripheral arterial disease (PA) is an important clinical marker of cardiovascular morbimortality, the rate of under-diagnosis is unknown. Our aimed to know the proportion of patients underdiagnosed of PA and the associated factors.
3786 patients >49 years old, randomly selected, were studied. PA was diagnosed by means of the ankle-brachial index (ABI<0, 9). Underdiagnosed was considered when ABI<0,9 and when they were not diagnosed of PA in the clinical record. We also determined the presence of intermittent claudication (IC) defined by Edinburgh's questionnaire.
7,6 % had an ABI <0, 9 (IC95 % 6,7?, 4). Of these patients 80.7 % , were underdiagnosed, although the 29,3 % had IC. PA underdiagnosis was low in current smokers or former smokers (OR 0.20; IC95 % 0,07?,59), if IC (OR 0.40; IC95 % 0,18?,89), if ABI between <0.7 and 0.5 (OR 0.36; IC95 % 0,16?,81) or <0,5 (OR 0,04; IC95 % 0,01?,20), being higher in >70 years (OR 3,12; IC95 % 1,12?,67).
PA underdiagnosis is high, especially in old patients. It is necessary to reach consensus criteria for the practice of the ABI in the general population.