Peripheral arterial disease in diabetic Jordanian patients and the agreement between ankle brachial index and toe brachial index

Abstract

This study aims to screen patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and to determine the agreement between ankle brachial index (ABI) and toe brachial index (TBI). A total of 182 diabetic patients at 40 years of age or older were assessed using both ABI and TBI. Mean age was 60.5 (SD ±8.1) years. PAD was present in 28.9% and 5.4% of patients according to TBI and ABI definitions respectively. The prevalence of high ABI (ABI > 1.3) was 16.5%. The agreement between TBI and ABI results was fair. Current smoking was associated with low ABI whereas age was inversely associated with TBI. We strongly suggest using both the ABI and TBI as screening tests for PAD because the agreement between these tests was fair, they complement each other in most instances and they detect PAD at different anatomical levels.