Abstract
BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the main public health troubles diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is one of the most important and relatively common causes of hospitalization. This study investigates the prevalence of peripheral artery disease (PAD) in Imam Reza Hospital of Kermanshah during 2017-2018. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is descriptive-analytical. The study population was 196 cases with infectious DFUs admitted to Imam Reza Hospital of Kermanshah during 2019-2020. The presence or absence of PAD was assessed in these cases. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 18.0). RESULTS: Among 196 patients studied, 120 (61.22%) patients had PAD. The prevalence of PAD was higher in men than in women and it was more common in Type 2 DM patients than in Type 1 DM patients. The majority of ulcers were located on the nonplantar surface of the foot. Moreover, the prevalence of PAD had a significant relationship by increasing the duration of diabetes (P = 0.041), history of amputation (P = 0.002), history of diabetic foot (P = 0.006), and peripheral neuropathy (P = 0.005). CONCLUSION: A considerable number of diabetic patients with DFU had PAD. This necessitates more intense interventions to manage PAD as a strong risk factor for DFU in diabetics. Neurovascular assessment of diabetic patients and early diagnosis of PAD may be appropriate interventions to prevent development of DFUs. We recommend trial studies to find out the best methods to address early detection of PAD in diabetics.