ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate toe-brachial index ( TBI) in the diagnosis of peripheral artery disease ( PAD) and its risk factors in the patients with type 2 diabetes.Methods TBI was examined in the 238 patients with type 2 diabetes.The patients were divided into the group with low TBI ( TBI≤0.7 ) and the group with normal ABI ( TBI>0.7 ) .The two groups were compared for clinical parameters.Results Thirty two patients (13.4%)with abnormal ABI (TBI≤0.7) showed older age [(63.8 ±9.9) yrs vs (54.9 ±10.8) yrs, P =0.000] , lower diastolic blood pressure [(70.5 ±6.9) mmHg vs (74.9 ±9.1) mmHg, P =0.003], more frequency of hypertension (56.3%vs 38.3%, P =0.043), coronary artery heart disease (28.7%vs 10.7%, P =0.020) and cere-bral vascular disease (15.6%vs 4.4%, P =0.025).Step-wise analysis screened that age and diastolic blood pressure were the inde-pendent risk factors for TBI .Conclusions Aging and hypertension were the risk factors in the patients with abnormal TBI in type 2 di-abetes.TBI was an easy and economical method for diagnosing PAD in patients with type 2 diabetes.