People in their 50s with severe peripheral artery disease or PAD may be more likely than people in their 80s to undergo leg amputation one to five years after emergency surgery to restore blood flow to the lower limbs, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association's flagship journal Circulation . Peripheral artery disease occurs when the arteries leading away from the heart narrow due to cholesterol deposits, preventing adequate blood flow throughout the body -; commonly the lower extremities. The condition is estimated to affect 10 million to 12 million adults ages 40 and older in the U.
S., according to 2024 guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. Symptomatic PAD is characterized by painful muscle cramping in the hips, thighs, calves, or feet when walking, climbing stairs or exercising.
The pain does not subside with rest. Modifiable risk factors for PAD include being a smoker, or former smoker, having diabetes, hypertension and/or abnormal cholesterol. People with severe forms of PAD requiring urgent surgery tend to have extremely poor disease progress.
They are at high risk of limb loss and all-cause death following the initial surgery. Our primary finding is different from the traditional belief that older people were at an increased risk of major amputation. Our study, interestingly, shows the opposite relationship.
" Qiuju Li, Ph.D., study lead author, research fellow in medical statistics at th.