Abstract
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a disease characterised by narrowing and blockade of peripheral arteries, usually based on underlying obliterating atherosclerosis. According to the results of large epidemiological studies, the risk of PAD in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) is fourfold higher compared to non-diabetic population.
Patients with DM and PAD have a high risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Diabetes worsens the prognosis of patients with PAD; the onset of PAD in diabetics occurs at an earlier age, the course is faster than in non-diabetic patients and the disease is often diagnosed at its advanced stages.
All these factors reduce the likelihood of revascularisation in DM patients with PAD. A range of factors (higher age, arterial hypertension, smoking, obesity, hyperfibrinogenaemia, insulin resistance etc.) contribute to the development of PAD in DM.
Diabetes control is an independent risk factor of PAD as every 1% increase of hemoglobin A1C is associated with 28%.