Peripheral occlusive arterial disease in longstanding diabetes mellitus. A population study.

One hundred and seventy-five diabetic patients belonging to the same cohort were investigated. They were all inhabitants of a suburb of Athens and were initially identified during a diabetes detection drive conducted 11 years earlier. The study comprised a full physical examination, answering of a detailed questionnaire--with emphasis on signs of intermittent claudication (IC)--and a 12 lead ECG (analyzed according to the Minnesota code). It was shown that clinical signs of peripheral occlusive arterial disease were significantly associated to male sex, increased duration of diabetes, type of treatment and major ECG signs of coronary heart disease, while increased age, current smoking and existence ease, while increased age, current smoking and existence of hypertension were not significantly associated to POAD.