Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease: Contemporary Epidemiology, Management Gaps, and Future Directions: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

🤖 Plain-English Summary

Lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects >230 million adults worldwide and is associated with increased risk of various adverse clinical outcomes (other cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and stroke and leg outcomes such as amputation). The statement also lists key gaps in research, clinical practice, and implementation related to PAD.

🔑 Key Findings

• Despite its prevalence and clinical importance, PAD has been historically underappreciated by health care professionals and patients.
• This underappreciation seems multifactorial (eg, limited availability of the first-line diagnostic test, the ankle-brachial index, in clinics; incorrect perceptions that a leg vascular disease is not fatal and that the diagnosis of PAD would not necessarily change clinical practice).
• In the past several years, a body of evidence has indicated that these perceptions are incorrect.

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