This Article Full Text Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by SoRelle, R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by SoRelle, R.

(Circulation. 2001;104:e9031.)
© 2001 American Heart Association, Inc.

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

Peripheral Artery Disease Undiagnosed in Primary Care

Nearly half of patients diagnosed with peripheral artery disease (PAD) in the PAD Awareness, Risk, and Treatment: New Resources for Survival (PARTNERS) program had not known previously that they had the disease, according to a report of the trial printed in the September 19, 2001, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (2001;286:1317–1324). The study’s authors, who were led by Alan T. Hirsch of the Vascular Medicine Program at the University of Minnesota Medical School, commented: "In as much as PAD affects between 8 and 12 million US residents, effective long-term care of patients with PAD will require increased diagnostic efforts and appropriate medical interventions in community-based, primary care settings to decrease limb-specific symptoms, improve quality of life, and decrease systemic cardiovascular risk."

The authors screened a total of 6417 patients and found PAD in 29% of them. A total of 55% of those with only PAD were newly diagnosed, and 35% of those with PAD and cardiovascular disease had never before been told that they had the disease. The authors said that their multicenter study, which was conducted at 27 sites in 25 cities and 350 primary care practices through the United States, shows that PAD is easily detected by the measurement of the ankle-brachial index. However, it is frequently not detected in primary care settings. "The high 29% PAD prevalence documented in this community survey supported our hypothesized underdiagnosis, because a new PAD diagnosis was established in approximately half of those with the disease," they wrote. . . . [Full Text of this Article]