Source: Diabetes Care  |  Posted 10 years ago

Diabetics with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have poorer function in their lower extremities compared with those with PAD who do not have diabetes.

"This difference in functioning appears to be largely explained by diabetes-associated neuropathy, differences in exertional leg symptoms and greater cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes," according to investigators.

The investigators, from six different institutions including Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago and Evanston/Northwestern Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, United States, studied 460 men and women with peripheral artery disease. One hundred forty-seven of these patients also had diabetes.

Results showed that ankle brachial index was similar between the two groups. Patients who had both peripheral artery disease and diabetes were younger and had higher body mass index, worse neuropathy scores and more cardiovascular comorbidities compared with patients who had peripheral artery disease alone.

Those patients with diabetes were less likely to report symptoms of intermittent claudication. They were more likely to report exertional leg pain.

Functional assessments, after adjusting for age, showed that patients with diabetes had shorter six-minute walk distances, slower fast-pace four-meter walk velocity and lower summary performance scores than those without diabetes.