PVD Study

Objective: We studied the effectiveness of a screening program for peripheral vascular disease (PVD) carried out by trained renal nurses in patients with and without diabetes on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD).

Patients and Methods: We recruited 30 stable diabetic and 30 stable non diabetic CAPD patients into this cross-sectional study. Trained renal nurses measured the patients' ankle-to-brachial systolic pressure index (ABI) using a Doppler ultrasound machine and their foot vibration perception (VPT) using a biothesiometer, and administered a questionnaire on foot symptoms. An ABI < 1.0 was regarded as abnormal and suggestive of the presence of PVD. An ABI < 0.7 or > 1.3 was regarded as severely abnormal. Findings for VPT were classified as normal or abnormal. Patients were then followed for 1 year for any overt development of clinical PVD, leg complications, and other vascular complications and for clinical outcome.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 63 ± 9 years, and the ratio of men to women was 1:1.3. An abnormal ABI was seen in 22 patients (37%). The questionnaire detected clinical PVD symptoms in 3 patients. Abnormal ABI and VPT findings were more frequent in diabetic patients. After 12 months of follow-up, patients with an abnormal ABI (and particularly those with a severely abnormal ABI) were more likely to develop leg complications and any type of cardiovascular disease than were patients with a normal ABI. Foot vibration perception had no predictive value on subsequent development of leg complications. When risk factors including age, ABI, and VPT were analyzed by logistic regression, only ABI was a significant independent predictor of subsequent lower-limb vascular complications [odds ratio (OR): 21.0; 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.35 to 187.0; p = 0.00064]. The OR for moderately abnormal ABI was 13.0 (95% CI: 1.015 to 166.3); for severely abnormal ABI, it was 27.4 (95% CI: 2.35 to 187.0, p = 0.0045).

Conclusions: Measurement of ABI by Doppler ultrasound is a useful and effective screening test for PVD in CAPD patients. In this study, VPT was not shown to be predicative of future leg complications, indicating that peripheral neuropathy plays a less important role in the development of such complications. Our results proved that trained renal nurses can play an active role in detecting foot problems in renal patients by ABI measurement.

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