A prospective study of peripheral occlusive arterial disease in diabetes. I. Clinical characteristics of the subjects.

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the clinical characteristics of a group of normal control subjects, patients with clinical peripheral occlusive arterial disease, patients with diabetes and no clinical peripheral arterial disease, and patients with diabetes and peripheral arterial disease at the time of the enrollment of all subjects in a 5-year study of the factors involved in the progression of peripheral occlusive arterial disease in diabetes. Obesity and hypertension were more common in subjects with diabetes or peripheral occlusive arterial disease (or both) than in the control subjects. Smoking was more common in both groups with occlusive arterial disease than in those without it. The diabetic patients with occlusive arterial disease had a longer duration of diabetes mellitus and a higher rate of other diabetic complications than those without arterial disease.