Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the risk factors for peripheral arterial disease and the relationship between the ankle - brachial index (ABI) and mortality from all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).
Methods and results: ABI was identified at baseline by measuring systolic pressure in the bilateral brachial and tibial arteries. Mortality surveillance was completed from November 2004 to January 2006. Among 1,647 participants with type 2 DM at baseline, 531 (32.2%) were in the low-ABI group. Older age, female gender, higher serum level of total cholesterol, longer duration of DM and a history of smoking were associated with low ABI. During the 13-month follow-up, there were 132 deaths, of which 47 were from CVD. Low ABI was associated with mortality from all-cause and CVD, the adjusted relative risk of which was 1.851 (95% confidence interval 1.280-2.676) and 3.211 (1.703-6.053), respectively, in Cox regression models. The survival rate was significantly lower in the low-ABI group than in the normal-ABI group.
Conclusion: Low ABI was independently associated with a high risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in Chinese patients with type 2 DM. ABI should be promoted as an ideal tool for predicting mortality in diabetic patients.