Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus is rapidly rising. Majority of patients with diabetes mellitus also have dyslipidemia [diabetic dyslipidemia (DD)]. DD has been found to be associated with increased risk of peripheral arterial disease (PAD).
Objective: To use ankle-brachial index (ABI) to evaluate the prevalence of PAD and to identify the associated risk factors and their level of control in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out in tertiary-care teaching hospital of Gujarat. People attending diabetes clinics were screened for PAD by measuring their ABI. In addition, their medical records were reviewed for PAD risk factors, including age, smoking, blood pressure, glycated hemoglobin, and lipid profile. Association between serum lipid profile and PAD was analyzed. Result: Total 50 patients were enrolled in this observational study. Of these, 16 were (32%) women and 34 (68%) were men aged 25–72 years. Of total 50 patients, 19 (38%) had positive history of smoking and 1 (2%) had history of alcohol consumption. More than two-thirds of the participants had HbA1c >10%. On analysis of PAD, 41 patients were found to have ABI > 1, and their total cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were noted to be higher than those for patients having ABI < 1, which was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: The study showed that PAD is highly prevalent among people with diabetes mellitus. Increased level of total cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL was positively associated with the development of PAD.