High Prevalence of Peripheral Arterial Disease but Low Antiplatelet Treatment Rates in Elderly Primary Care Patients With Diabetes

Although diabetes is primarily a metabolic disorder, it is also a vascular disease (1). We aimed to determine the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), comorbidity of atherothrombotic manifestations, and antiplatelet treatment intensity among elderly diabetic patients in primary care, as previous studies usually investigated smaller and highly selected samples. In this cross-sectional study, 344 general practitioners throughout Germany determined the ankle-brachial index (ABI) of 6,880 consecutive, unselected patients aged ≥65 years with bilateral Doppler ultrasound measurements (2). PAD was defined as ABI <0.9, or peripheral revascularization, or amputation because of PAD. Additionally, the World …