title: Bilirubin and peripheral arterial disease: 15 years later.
abstract: The past year has seen renewed interest in the link between peripheral arterial disease and plasma bilirubin. Two important studies that evaluate this relationship have been published: Perlstein et al., in a cross-sectional cohort study, and Kronenberg's group, in a retrospective case control study, provide substantial evidence that serum bilirubin may play a protective role in peripheral arterial disease as well as ischaemic heart disease, as suggested almost 15 years ago in a small retrospective analysis. Briefly, that study found that serum bilirubin concentrations in peripheral arterial disease patients were significantly (p < 0.001) lower than those in a healthy reference population. This editorial discusses the new data in a historical context.
authors.forename: Lars H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Breimer
authors.forename: Dimitri P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Mikhailidis
mesh_terms: D001663:Bilirubin / Q000097:blood*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D001663:Bilirubin