摘要
Background and objectives
<p>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.Patients and methods
<p>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.Results
<p>7,6%had an ABI <0, 9 (IC95%6,7鈥?, 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鈥?,59), if IC (OR 0.40; IC95%0,18鈥?,89), if ABI between <0.7 and 0.5 (OR 0.36; IC95%0,16鈥?,81) or <0,5 (OR 0,04; IC95%0,01鈥?,20), being higher in >70 years (OR 3,12; IC95%1,12鈥?,67).Conclusions
<p>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.
