Abstract
Objectives To explore population patterns of sex-based incidence and prevalence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), guideline-directed best medical therapy prescriptions and its relationship with all-cause mortality at 1 year. Design A retrospective cohort study. Setting Anonymised electronic primary care from 787 practices in the UK, or approximately 6.2% of the UK population. Participants All registered patients over 40 with a documented diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease. Outcome measure Population incidence and prevalence of PAD by sex. Patterns of guideline-directed therapy, and correlation with all-cause mortality at 1 year (defined as death due to any outcome) in patients with and without an existing diagnosis of cardiovascular disease. Covariates included Charlson comorbidity, sex, age, body mass index, Townsend score of deprivation, smoking status, diabetes, hypertension, statin and antiplatelet prescription. Results Sequential cross-sectional studies from 2010 to 2017 found annual PAD prevalence (12.7-14.3 vs 25.6 per 1000 in men) and incidence were lower in women (11.6-12.4 vs 22.7-26.8 per 10 000 person years in men). Cox proportional hazards models created for PAD patients with and without cardiovascular disease over one full year analysed 25 121 men and 13 480 women, finding that following adjustment for age, women were still less likely to be on a statin (OR 0.69; 95% CI 0.66 to 0.72; p<0.001) or antiplatelet (OR: 0.87; 95% CI 0.83 to 0.90; p<0.001). Once fully adjusted for guideline recommended medical therapy, all-cause mortality was similar between women and men (adjusted HR (aHR) 0.95, 95% CI 0.87 to 1.03, p=0.198 for all patients, aHR 1.01, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.16, p=0.860 for those with cardiovascular disease). Conclusions Women with a new diagnosis of PAD were not prescribed guideline-directed therapy at the same rate as men. However once adjusted for factors including age, all-cause mortality in men and women was similar.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e055952 |
Journal | BMJ open |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 10 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Funding The funding for this research was provided by the University of Birmingham research development fund (RB, award number NA). The authors of the study are supported by various grants from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West Midlands (award numbers NA). The views expressed here are those of the authors alone.
Keywords
- drug therapy
- epidemiology
- mortality
- peripheral vascular disease
- sex
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine