Research of the relationship between smoking and peripheral arterial disease

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between smoking and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) by investigate the smoking status and measuring the (ABI). A questionnaire survey was conducted among 3379 male patients hospitalized in the departments of cardiovascular internal medicine, nephrology, and endocrinology, aged 40-98, 2253 smokers and 1126 non-smokers, to understand their life styles, anamnesis, and smoking history. All patients underwent measurement of systolic blood pressures of the upper arm and ankle so as to calculate the ankle-brachial index (ABI). Measurement. An ABI less than or equal to 0.9 was considered to be indicative of significant PAD. The ABI levels in the smoker group were significantly lower than those in the non-smoker group (P < 0.05). The prevalence of PAD was 24.94% in the smoker group, and 20.60% in the non-smoker group. The age-adjusted OR of the smokers was 1.480 (95% CI: 1.237-1.770), with a significant dosage-effect relationship between smoking and PAD. Smoking is a significant risk factor of PAD. The prevalence of PAD was increased with the dosage of smoking.