The Association of Gender with Quality of Health in Peripheral Arterial Disease Following Peripheral Vascular Intervention

BACKGROUND: Women and men have similar prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). However, women are reported to have more severe disease and worse claudication symptoms than men. The association of the gender-related differences in PAD-specific health status following peripheral vascular intervention (PVI) has not been previously evaluated. METHODS: We compared the clinical responses of women and men to PVI by prospectively obtaining answers to a Peripheral Arterial Questionnaire (PAQ) in 384 patients at baseline and up to 6-months follow-up post-PVI. We utilized the PAQ summary score of patients' physical function, symptoms, social function, and quality-of-life (QOL) scores to reflect patients' quality of health (QOH). Scores range from 0-100, with higher scores indicating better symptomatic and functional status. RESULTS: Women (191, 49.7%) and men (193, 50.3%) were equally represented in our study. Prior to PVI, both groups had similar QOH scores (36 ± 21 vs 34 ± 20, P ≤ 0.49) for men and women, respectively. Following PVI, there was a similar and significant improvement in QOH scores increasing to 60 ± 28 vs 58 ± 29 (P ≤ 0.36) for men and women, reflecting a substantial clinical improvement in both groups. CONCLUSION: In patients undergoing PVI, women and men had similar QOH scores at baseline. There was also a significant and similar improvement in QOH scores following PVI in both genders. These findings showed that PVI had similar effectiveness for improving QOH significantly and equally in both men and women with symptomatic PAD.

Duke Scholars

Author Rajendra H. Mehta Medicine, Cardiology