Prevalence and Clinical Features of Asymptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease in Japanese Stroke Patients

Background: A recent worldwide disease registration study has revealed a high prevalence of polyvascular diseases in stroke patients. However, although a poor clinical outcome of patients with polyvascular disease has been reported, there have been few reports on clinical features of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in stroke patients. We assessed the prevalence, demographics, characteristics, and risk factors of PAD in Japanese stroke patients. Methods: One hundred and one consecutive chronic stroke patients in an outpatient clinic underwent ankle-brachial index (ABI) screening tests. PAD was diagnosed when the ABI was <0.9. Results: Abnormal ABI was found in 19 patients (18.8%). Eleven patients were asymptomatic, and 8 patients had symptoms of intermittent claudication. Gender, prevalence of hypertension, and dyslipidemia and alcohol intake were not different between the patients with PAD and those without PAD. Prevalence of diabetes mellitus (63.6%) was higher in the patients with asymptomatic PAD. Among the clinical subtypes of stroke, the patients with atherothrombotic infarction had a higher prevalence of PAD. Conclusions: The prevalence of PAD in stroke patients was 18.8%. Approximately 60% of the patients had no symptoms related to PAD. Diabetes mellitus was associated with higher prevalence of asymptomatic PAD among Japanese stroke patients.