[Prevalence of peripheral arterial disease and associated factors in elderly patients using an automated...

The objective is to determine the presence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and the factors associated in elderly patients, analyzing variables such as sex, age, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular problems. The investigation was conducted in 257 patients by assessing their ankle-brachial index (ABI). To do this, WatchBP Office, a specific automatic blood pressure measurement device for assessing ABI, was used. A greater presence of arterial occlusion (ABI < 0.90) was observed in males, and a greater predominance of calcification (ABI > 1.3) occurred in females. Also standing out was the significant relationship between the presence of arterial occlusion an the advanced age of the patient (p = 0.00), diabetes (p = 0.04), hypertension (p = 0.02), heart problems (p = 0.004), and smoking (p = 0.01). No significant relationship was found between the presence of occlusion and dyslipidemia (p = 0.92). In multivariate analysis, age (OR = 1.082; p = 0.02), cardiovascular problems (OR = 2.76; p = 0.03) and systolic blood pressure (OR = 1.03; p = 0.04) showed an association with the occlusion.