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Functional Impairment in Peripheral Artery Disease and How to Improve It in 2013

  • Peripheral Vascular Disease (M Shishehbor, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects 8 million men and women in the United States and will be increasingly common as the U.S. population lives longer with chronic disease. People with PAD have poorer walking endurance, slower walking velocity, and poorer balance, compared with individuals without PAD. People with PAD may reduce their walking activity to avoid leg symptoms. Thus, clinicians should not equate stabilization or improvement in exertional leg symptoms with stabilization or improvement in walking performance in PAD. In addition, even asymptomatic PAD patients have greater functional impairment and faster functional decline than individuals without PAD. Of the 2 FDA-approved medications for treating claudication symptoms, pentoxifylline may not be more efficacious than placebo, whereas cilostazol confers a modest improvement in treadmill walking performance. Supervised treadmill walking exercise is associated with substantial improvement in walking endurance, but many PAD patients do not have access to supervised exercise programs. Unsupervised walking exercise programs may be beneficial in PAD, but data are mixed.

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Disclosure

Conflicts of interest: M.M. McDermott: has received grant support from the NIH (funded by R01-HL107510 and R01-HL109244); and has been involved with the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.

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  1. Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 750 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60611, USA

    Mary McGrae McDermott

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  1. Mary McGrae McDermott
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Correspondence to Mary McGrae McDermott.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Peripheral Vascular Disease.

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McDermott, M.M. Functional Impairment in Peripheral Artery Disease and How to Improve It in 2013. Curr Cardiol Rep 15, 347 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-013-0347-5

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