Peripheral Arterial Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a vascular comorbidity that increases the burden of disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) by influencing the evolution of foot ulcerations and the onset of the diabetic foot. Our objective is to describe the characteristics of T2DM patients with PAD and T2DM diabetics without PAD in a group of 219 T2DM patients. Methods 219 T2DM patients were selected to partake in this retrospective study (mean age = 69.04 +/- 10.79 years, range 37-93, 51.14% female). Patients were identified by a database search of diagnostic codes of all discharge diagnoses and medical data were retrieved from the Clinical Emergency Hospital of Bucharest records. Results PAD was present in 9.59% of T2DM patients. Dyslipidemia was registered in 57.14% cases of T2DM patients with PAD versus 46.60% in T2DM patients without PAD. The frequency of chronic kidney disease was similar in both groups: 39.29% in patients with T2DM and PAD and 38.22% in patients with T2DM and no PAD. Conclusions In our study, the frequency of PAD in T2DM patients was lower (9.59%) than in other literature reports (50-55%). However, screening for this clinical entity can prevent the development of complications in T2DM patients.