Peripheral arterial disease in women

Abstract

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) affects a significant portion of the United States population, and much research has been conducted on identifying populations at risk for PAD, evaluating appropriate diagnostic modalities for PAD, studying the effect of risk factor reduction on PAD progression, and determining the best method of treatment for symptomatic PAD. However, most PAD research and clinical trials have focused on whole populations, or populations consisting mostly of men. Little data exist with respect to PAD in women. The goal of this review is to highlight what is known about gender-related differences for PAD.

Do Women Have Worse Amputation-Free Survival Than Men Following Endovascular Procedures for Peripheral Arterial Disease? An Evaluation of the California State-Wide Database

“…Women are more likely to have asymptomatic disease and hence a delay in diagnosis, and later intervention may be why women present more often with CLI compared to men. 15 It is unclear whether knowledge deficit or lack of screening for PAD in women contributes to their presentation with more advanced arterial occlusive disease. 16,17 Although PAD is a known manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis and is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, 18 it continues to be underdiagnosed in primary care clinics.…”

Differences Between Women and Men with Intermittent Claudication: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…This finding has specific diagnostic and therapeutic implications. 13,14 In this context, the objective of our study was to determine whether there are sex-based differences on functional and quality-of-life issues between women and men in a large group of claudicants. These findings will be useful in guiding future regional and national efforts in Spain toward educating the public about cardiovascular conditions.…”

Gender specific differences in peripheral artery disease and their impact on cardiovascular rehabilitation -the experience of a Romanian Rehabilitation Hospital

“…This is coupled with reduced sensitivity and specificity of current diagnostic tests in detecting PAD for this population group, leading to under-diagnosis and treatment delay [3,4]. The current study wants to give a small glimpse regarding demographic, risk factor and treatment characteristics of women with PAD by comparison with men, for which literature data is more abundant.…”

“…Unfortunately, women's suboptimal representation in PAD related clinical trials, along with sometimes atypical clinical symptoms, often lead to misdiagnosis and mismanagement of this illness in female patients [3]. This adds to the particular anatomical characteristics of women, leading to an overall increase in morbidity and mortality compared to their male counterparts [4]. Not only are women more exposed to misdiagnoses and ill treatment of PAD, but often those exposing claudication-like symptoms are less likely to benefit from inclusion into a supervised exercise program, which in time will lead to the worsening of their symptomatic status and other disease-related complications [5,6].…”