title: Excess 1-year cardiovascular risk in elderly primary care patients with a low ankle-brachial index (ABI) and high homocysteine level.
abstract: Previous studies in selected patient samples suggested a high risk for total mortality and cardiovascular (CV) morbidity associated not only with symptomatic, but also with asymptomatic peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Our aim was to assess the 1-year risk of death and CV morbidity associated with PAD in primary care. Furthermore, we quantified the strength of association between low ankle-brachial index (ABI, as indicator for PAD), plasma homocysteine (HC) levels, and various accepted PAD risk factors, and death and outcomes. In a prospective cohort study, 6880 unselected patients > or =65 years were followed up by 344 primary care physicians in Germany. At 1 year, all-cause mortality was 2.8% in patients with PAD and 0.9% in patients without PAD (odds ratio [OR] adjusted for age and gender: 2.7 [95% confidence interval: 1.7; 4.2]; multivariate adjusted OR: 2.0 [1.3; 3.3]). Mortality due to CV events was 1.6 versus 0.4% (OR: 3.7 [2.0; 6.9], adjusted OR: 2.5 [1.3; 4.9]). Patients with PAD and high HC values (> or =fourth quintile) had a markedly increased risk of premature death: OR versus no PAD/low HC level (<first quintile): 9.8 [3.2, 29.9], adjusted OR 6.6 [2.1, 20.9]. Patients with a low ABI have a substantially increased risk of (short-term) all-cause mortality. The combination of a low ABI and high HC level is particularly useful for identifying patients at excess risk.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, D-44801 Bochum, Germany. stefan.lange@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Hans Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Trampisch
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haberl
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Darius
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pittrow
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Berndt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: von Stritzky
authors.forename: Gerhart
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tepohl
authors.forename: Jens Rainer
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Allenberg
authors.forename: Curt
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Diehm
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000842:Ankle / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001132:Arm / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014463:Ultrasonography
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006710:Homocysteine