Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in an Amputee Population

Cardiovascular disease, which remains the number one cause of death in the United States, is particularly prevalent in amputees and in other groups such as men, the elderly, and African Americans. The objective of this study was to identify the underlying risk factors of cardiovascular disease in an amputee population and to determine if those risk factors differ between the vascular and nonvascular amputee groups. In addition, the amputee risk profile was compared with the general population. A survey consisting of previously validated cardiovascular disease risk factor questions was sent to 39 support groups across the United States. From the data of 170 respondents, four highly prevalent risk factors were identified in the amputee profile; these factors included high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and inactivity. The vascular amputees were significantly older than the nonvascular amputees and had an increased occurrence of diabetes (71% versus 13%; p = 0.001), an increased overweight prevalence (71% versus 29%; p = 0.019), and a decreased number of days per week of alcohol consumption (0.64 versus 1.24; p = 0.018). Additionally, it appeared that three risk factors were elevated above the United States population norms for the following categories; these factors included cholesterol, hypertension, and diabetes. The results of this study indicate that special attention should be focused on the modification of risk factors emphasizing high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, and inactivity. The high occurrence of reported risk factors could explain the increased rate of death as a result of cardiovascular disease in the amputee population.