Screening for Peripheral Arterial Disease in a Long-term Care Setting

Purpose: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common in older adults, African Americans, adults with a history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity, and those who smoke. Residents of long-term care facilities are generally at high risk for PAD. The purpose of this study was to identify residents of a long-term care facility who had no previous diagnosis of the disease. Methods: Fifty of 117 residents of a long-term care facility in Alabama who were able to provide consent agreed to participate in this study. Ages of participants ranged from 50 to 99 years. Three raters calculated ankle-brachial index (ABI) scores for each of the residents. Results: Screening residents of this long-term care facility led to the identification of 23 participants who had abnormal ABI values. Twenty-seven participants had a normal ABI (56%), 1 was identified as having severe PAD (2%), 17 (34%) had mild to moderate PAD, 2 had borderline PAD, (4%), and 2 had noncompressible vessels (4%). Hypertension was a predominant risk factor for those with abnormal ABI values. Diabetes and smoking were other identifiable risk factors associated with abnormal ABI values. Conclusion: The screening of ABI may identify residents of long-term care facilities who had no previous diagnosis of PAD.