What is the prevalence of arteriosclerosis obliterans and its associated risk factors in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects?
The study highlights a high prevalence of peripheral arterial disease in diabetic patients, which is strongly driven by age, hypertension, and smoking rather than glycemic control.
The prevalence of arteriosclerosis obliterans (ASO) of the legs was determined by a battery of noninvasive tests in 141 insulin-dependent and 289 non-insulin-dependent diabetic subjects and in 64 other subjects. The prevalence of detectable ASO ranges from 18% in the younger IDDM group to 41% in the diet-treated NIDDM group. The prevalence of ASO increases 7.5% per decade, appears to increase 6.5% in the age-adjusted IDDM group, 9% in males, 19% in those with hypertension, and 12% in smokers. No consistently significant correlations with fasting glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, or obesity were found. After accounting for the effect of smoking, the increased risk for ASO in males becomes nonsignificant.
Beach et al. (Sat,) studied this question.