Need for surveillance of concomitant peripheral artery disease in patients with coronary disease: results of the AGATHA survey in Malaysia

Background For patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), co-existence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) predicts increased mortality, and such patients are also more likely to benefit from aggressive therapy. Surveillance of PAD is often neglected at health clinics. Our aim is to highlight the importance and ease of surveillance of PAD in patients with CVD. Objective To determine the prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic PAD in a Malaysian patient population with documented CVD. Methods and Results A total of 393 subjects with established CVD were recruited from three centres (85 women and 308 men), as part of a larger international (AGATHA) survey. PAD, determined by presence of claudicant symptoms on interview and/or abnormal ankle-brachial index (ABI) score of less than 0.9, was present in 21.4% of patients - of whom 64% were asymptomatic. Abnormal ABI is associated with higher systolic blood pressure and number of arterial beds affected. Conclusions Concomitant PAD is prevalent among CVD patients in Malaysia. ABI screening is simple and yields a high proportion of patients with extensive atherosclerosis who may require more aggressive atherosclerotic risk management.