Risk Factors

Researchers have identified several risk factors that can be attributed to the development of PAD. These include:

Diabetes

• There are 20.8 million children and adults in the United States who have diabetes.¹
  
• Diabetes mellitus increases the risk of lower extremity PAD by 2- to 4-fold.²

Age

• The incidence of PAD increases with age, and affects approximately 20% of the U.S. population over 70.²
  
• Due to an aging population, the estimated number of people with PAD is expected to grow to more than 17 million in 2010 and more than 22 million in 2020.³

Smoking

• Smokers have three times the rate of intermittent claudication as non-smokers and are diagnosed on average ten years earlier.⁴
  

Coronary artery disease (CAD)

• Clinical evidence of coronary artery disease almost triples the risk of intermittent claudication.²

Additional risk factors include hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, family history, and African American or Hispanic ethnicity.

1. American Diabetes Association
2. “ACC/AHA 2005 Practice Guidelines for the Management of Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease”, Alan T. Hirsch, MD et al. Circulation 2006; 113; 463-654
3. “Peripheral Arterial Disease: Underestimated, Underdiagnosed and Undertreated – Volume II”, The Sage Group
4. “Inter-Society Consensus for the Management of Peripheral Arterial Disease (TASC II)” , L. Norgren et al. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg 33, S1-S70 (2007)