Peripheral arterial disease: leading us back to the heart

Peripheral arterial disease remains an afterthought among many clinicians, including specialists in cardiovascular diseases. In this issue, Sim et al.1 illuminate the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) among Malaysian patients with known coronary or cerebrovascular disease. There have been few reports on the prevalence of PAD in Asian countries, and no large-scale, multi-center reports among Malaysians. There are several important points to take home from this report. But most importantly, we should focus on how this report on PAD in a different population strengthens the same lessons about PAD that we have already learned.