High risk of peripheral arterial disease in the United Kingdom: 2 year results of a prospective registry

We report a prospective 2-year, multicenter study of patients presenting with intermittent claudication (IC; ankle brachial blood pressure index, ABPI = 0.9). Mean age of the 473 patients enrolled was 68 years, 20% were diabetics, 30% had prior symptomatic coronary heart disease (CHD), 7% had prior stroke, and 39% were current smokers. At baseline, 26.2% of patients had BP = 140/85 mm Hg or lower and at 2 years this figure was 32.5% (P = .01). Current smokers had fallen to 27% (from 39%) at 2 years (P < .001). Use of antiplatelet agents, statins, and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors increased significantly during the course of the study as did claudication distance. Death and the composite of death, stroke or myocardial infarction (MI), occurred in 8.4% and 11.6% of patients, respectively. Prognosis was worse in patients with prior history of CHD, older age, those with diabetes and a lower ABPI.