Abstract
AIM: Few studies have evaluated the midterm prognosis of patients with intermittent claudication who underwent endovascular therapy (EVT) for femoropopliteal lesions. Therefore, we aimed to assess 2-year mortality and prognostic factors in these patients. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 947 patients who underwent EVT for intermittent claudication between January 2018 and December 2021 at eight Japanese cardiovascular centers. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed for mortality, and prognostic factors were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Patient backgrounds and medications were included in the investigation of prognostic factors. RESULTS: Notably, 79 deaths occurred during the mean follow-up period of 20.9±6.2 months. The 2-year mortality rate was 9.1%. In multivariate analysis, body mass index (BMI) ＜18.5 kg/m(2) (p＜0.001), coronary artery disease (CAD) (p＜0.001), dialysis (p＜0.001), and ankle-brachial pressure index (ABI) ＜0.6 (p=0.012) were risk factors. Statins and cilostazol were protective factors (p=0.014 and p=0.036, respectively). When the study population was stratified based on the number of these risk factors, the mortality rate was highest (32.5% at 2 years) in patients with at least three risk factors. However, when stratified according to protective factors, the mortality rate was lowest in patients with two protective factors (2.1% at 2 years). CONCLUSIONS: Dialysis, low BMI, CAD, and low ABI were risk factors for a worse 2-year prognosis in patients with intermittent claudication who underwent EVT for femoropopliteal lesions. Statins and cilostazol may improve the 2-year prognosis of patients with lower extremity artery disease.