Any Microvascular Disease a Risk Factor for Limb Amputation
The presence of microvascular disease, even in the kidneys or eyes, sharply raises the risk of lower-extremity amputation, and more so in patients who also have peripheral artery disease (PAD), suggests a new analysis of more than 125,600 mostly male participants in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS), as reported in Medscape. The findings were independent of demographics and other cardiovascular risk factors.
Over an average of 9 years in the cohort, in which no one had had an amputation, there was an incident total of 1185 amputations. The presence of microvascular disease itself, compared with an absence of both microvascular disease or PAD, was associated with a nearly fourfold increased risk of amputation; a presence of PAD by itself, a nearly 14-fold risk.