ABSTRACT
Objective: to determine the frequency of peripheral arterial disease in patients with diabetic foot
Study design: prospective descriptive study
Place and duration: this study was conducted at Medical Unit-IV Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro/Hyderabad from February 2007 to August 2008
Patients and methods: diabetic patients with non-healing foot ulcer, were selected for the study by non-probability purposive sampling technique. Ankle brachial index [ABI] was calculated; peripheral arterial disease [PAD] was diagnosed when ankle brachial index was less than 0.9 and further graded as mild, moderate and severe as per recommendations of American Diabetes Association. Frequencies with proportions in different grades were calculated
Results: a total of 67 diabetic foot patients were included, amongst which 51 [76.1%] were males and 16 [23.9%] were females. Peripheral arterial disease was found in 30 [44.78%] patients, among them 18 [60%] had mild, 12 [40%] had moderate and none had severe peripheral arterial disease
Conclusion: ankle brachial index [ABI] is a simple and cheap technique for the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease [PAD]. The PAD is one of the major risk factors for diabetic foot, which can be prevented by monitoring ABI in at-risk patients