Peripheral arterial disease in diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2: are there different risk factors?

Diabetic patients have increased prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). It is not clearly shown whether the prognostic factors are identical in relation to the type of diabetes. This study was done to compare the associations of PAD with risk factors and with micro- and macrovascular complications of inpatients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

In a retrospective cross-sectional study 1087 patients with type 1 diabetes and 1060 patients with type 2 diabetes were examined. PAD was diagnosed when ankle-brachial-pressure-index (ABI) was < 1.0. In cases with incompressible arteries (mediasclerosis) pulse wave forms were analyzed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to evaluate the impact of different variables on PAD risk, after adjusting for different variables separately.

In both types of diabetes (type 1 vs. type 2) PAD risk (odds ratio; OR) was increased in the presence of coronary heart disease (OR 9.3 vs. 3.5), diabetic nephropathy (OR 3.0 vs. 2.8), neuropathy (OR 7.9 vs. 1.8), foot ulceration (OR 8.9 vs. 5.5), increased daily insulin requirement > 0.6 mu/kg b.w. (OR 5.2 vs. 2.9), diabetes duration of 20-29 years (OR 28.9) and > 30 years (OR 51.1) in type 1 diabetes, and diabetes duration of 10-19 years (OR 3.8) and > 20 years (OR 4.3) in type 2 diabetes. In type 2 diabetes, PAD risk was associated with microalbuminuria (OR 2.1), macroalbuminuria (OR 3.3), background retinopathy (OR 1.9), proliferative retinopathy (OR 2.8), increased triglycerides (TG) (OR 1.7) and decreased HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C > 0.90 mmol/l: OR 0.49).

PAD risk factors and micro- and macrovascular comorbidity are very similar in type 1 and type 2 diabetes.