Peripheral Arterial Disease and Diabetes

The incidence of type 2 (noninsulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus continues to increase in the United States ( 1 ). Consequently, the associated morbid and mortal events from the associated microvascular and macrovascular complications of this disease have also risen ( 1 ). The preponderance of research toward the understanding of vascular disease in diabetes has been directed toward the delineation of end organ injury from microvascular disease. Consequently, the focus on macrovascular peripheral vascular disease has been relatively ignored. However, several studies have elucidated both the incidence and prevalence of peripheral vascular disease associated with both type 1 (insulin-dependent) and type 2 diabetes mellitus. In general, these studies have found that the duration of diabetes is perhaps the best correlate to predict the development of coronary artery and renal disease, as well as other associated end organ injuries that have not consistently correlated with the development of peripheral vascular disease. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.