prevalence of peripheral arterial disease in diabetic patients

objective: peripheral arterial disease (pad) is a state characterized by atherosclerotic occlusive disease of lower extremities. diabetes is the main risk factor for pad. material and methods: to assess the prevalence of pad, a cross sectional study was performed on 352 diabetic patients who referred to yazd diabetes research center from 2007 to 2010. vascular assessment was done by measuring the ankle-brachial index (abi) and toe-brachial index (tbi). pad was defined when abi was less than 0.9 in each leg or abi was more than 1.3 and tbi less than 0.6. result: the mean age of diabetic patients was 56.97±10.3 and the mean of diabetes duration was 12.6±7.5 years. fifty-two percent of these subjects were women and 48% men. abi less than 0.9 was found in 8.5%, abi 0.9-1.3 in 84.5%,and abi more than 1.3 in 7%of the patients. prevalence of pad was 9.8%.in this study the age of diabetic patients with abi less than 0.9 was significantly more than other groups. conclusion: the prevalence of pad in type 2 diabetes is 9.8% and history of cerebrovascular disease significantly associated with pad.