Patient awareness of risk factors for peripheral vascular disease

Our aim was to document patient awareness of the risk factors that predispose to peripheral vascular disease (PVD) before and after consultation with a vascular specialist. Two cohorts of patients attending vascular outpatient clinics were interviewed before or after consultation with a vascular surgeon. They were interviewed according to an agreed protocol to determine if they knew that they had PVD and if they knew what the risk factors for vascular disease were. They were specifically asked about smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. Of 102 patients recruited, 52 were interviewed prior to specialist vascular assessment and 50 after such an assessment. Seventy-nine percent of patients knew that they had PVD before assessment and 96% knew that they had PVD after specialist assessment (P = 0.009). Overall, 60% of patients acknowledged that they received advice about vascular risk factors and 33% recalled receiving such advice from their general practitioner. There was a statistically significant improvement in patient awareness of smoking (73-90%, P = 0.028) and diabetes (23-66%, P = 0.001) as vascular risk factors after specialist consultation. There was no improvement with regard to hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. Identifying and modifying risk factors is an essential part of the treatment of patients with PVD. This study demonstrates that patient awareness of vascular risk factors is generally low and further work is required to establish means for vascular surgical units to improve education for patients with PVD.