Peripheral vascular disease in diabetes mellitus and its relation to cardiovascular risk factors: screening with the doppler ultrasonic technique.

Data of 623 nonselected diabetic outpatients are presented who were screened for peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and for cardiovascular risk factors. PVD was diagnosed in 15.9% of the diabetic patients (14.4% women and 18.0% men). Nine percent of the patients had signs of marked mediasclerosis at the ankle level. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed that PVD was closely associated with systolic hypertension and also with the duration of diabetes, a relationship that was highly significant (P less than 0.001) for the peripheral type (below the knee) of PVD. Diabetic patients with arterial disease at the pelvic or femoral site exhibited a higher number of cardiovascular risk factors. In contrast, in patients with the peripheral type, significantly higher blood glucose values were found. Therefore, the quality of metabolic control may play an important part in the development of this form of diabetic macroangiopathy.