The heart matters in diabetes: 10-Year outcomes of peripheral artery disease

Objectives: Mortality rates at 10 years are higher in diabetic patients with chronic lower extremity peripheral arterial disease than in non-diabetic peripheral arterial disease patients. We tested the hypothesis that the predictors of mortality differ between diabetic and non-diabetic peripheral arterial disease patients. Methods: We studied 331 consecutive patients who were <75 years of age, symptomatic for peripheral arterial disease, and admitted to a tertiary care hospital. Our cohort included 216 patients without diabetes mellitus and 115 with diabetes mellitus. The outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 10 years post-admission. Results: Mortality rates at 10 years were 29% among non-diabetic peripheral arterial disease patients and 58% among diabetic peripheral arterial disease patients. We identified the following independent predictors of death in the 216 peripheral arterial disease patients without diabetes: age ≥65 years (risk ratio: 2.15; 95% confidence interval: 1.28–3.59), ankle brachial index