Hardening of the arteries doubles the risk of mortality

Most patients don't suspect a thing, and yet they are seriously ill: hardening of the arteries -- peripheral arterial disease -- doubles the risk of premature death and serious cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. This result of the five-year follow-up to the study getABI (German epidemiological trial on ankle brachial index, ABI) was published last year by researchers led by Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Trampisch (medical informatics, biometry and epidemiology at the RUB).

They also pointed out that the disease can be diagnosed and counteracted by means of a simple comparison between arm and ankle blood pressure carried out by a GP. Their highly regarded work has now been conferred the Best PAD Research Award 2010 by the Peripheral Arterial Disease Coalition.

Almost 7,000 patients over 65 were included in the getABI study in 2001. It turned out that one in five of them suffered from hardening of the arteries. It is detected by determining the ankle brachial index (ABI), a comparison between the patient's arterial blood pressure in the arms and ankles when lying. If the difference is large, vessels are blocked, and this mostly applies to the whole body - including the coronary and cerebral vessels. The risk of premature death, a heart attack or stroke is twice as high for the patients affected as for others, and they usually know nothing about it. Because in many cases the disease has no symptoms. The specialists of the getABI study, which is coordinated by Prof. Trampisch in Bochum, therefore strongly urge that the simple ABI examination be introduced as standard for elderly patients at their GP.

More information:
Diehm C, Trampisch HJ et al., Mortality and Vascular Morbidity in Older Adults With Asymptomatic Versus Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease. Circulation 2009: published online before print November 9, 2009: DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.865600

Provided by Ruhr-University Bochum