They also pointed out that the disease can be diagnosed and counteracted by means of a simple comparison between arm and ankle blood pressure carried out by a GP. Their highly regarded work has now been conferred the Best PAD Research Award 2010 by the Peripheral Arterial Disease Coalition.
Simple test must be made standard
Almost 7,000 patients over 65 were included in the getABI study in 2001. It turned out that one in five of them suffered from hardening of the arteries. It is detected by determining the ankle brachial index (ABI), a comparison between the patient's arterial blood pressure in the arms and ankles when lying. If the difference is large, vessels are blocked, and this mostly applies to the whole body - including the coronary and cerebral vessels. The risk of premature death, a heart attack or stroke is twice as high for the patients affected as for others, and they usually know nothing about it. Because in many cases the disease has no symptoms. The specialists of the getABI study, which is coordinated by Prof. Trampisch in Bochum, therefore strongly urge that the simple ABI examination be introduced as standard for elderly patients at their GP.
PAD Coalition
The PAD Coalition is a non-profit association in which 80 health organisations, professional associations and government organisations have joined forces to reduce the incidence of peripheral arterial disease and the deaths caused by them. The PAD Research Award includes prize money of 1,000 dollars and is to be presented in September.
Title of the award-winning study
Diehm C, Trampisch HJ et al., Mortality and Vascular Morbidity in Older Adults With Asymptomatic Versus Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease. Circulation 2009: published online before print November 9, 2009: DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.865600
Journal
Circulation