Prevalence of low ankle brachial index and relationship with cardiovascular risk factors in a Western urban population in Turkey.

We determined the prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and associated risk factors in an urban population age ≥30 years in Turkey and assessed the impact of incorporating ankle brachial index (ABI) measurement with coronary heart disease risk calculations to the risk reclassification of individuals. The sample was drawn from 4600 participants of Balcova Heart Study. The prevalence of low ABI (<0.9) was 6.3%. Current smoking (odds ratio [OR]: 5.07, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.85-13.88), cardiovascular disease history (OR: 6.83, 95% CI: 3.00-15.53), hypertension (OR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.06-6.33), diabetes (OR: 3.25, 95% CI: 1.51-6.98), and high waist circumference (OR: 2.24, 95% CI: 1.02-4.94) were positively associated with prevalent PAD. When ABI measurement was taken into account, 3.5% of low or intermediate risk patients were reclassified as high risk. Screening individuals who have one of these risk factors with ABI can help reclassifying individuals toward the high-risk category.