Additive prognosis of clinical presentation in revascularized peripheral arterial disease patients.

BACKGROUND Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality. It may present with diverse clinical presentations. Our objective is to evaluate the prognosis of these clinical presentations. METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study, in which symptomatic PAD patients were included from 2014 to 2020 at a university hospital in Argentina. We classified symptomatic PAD in intermittent claudication (IC), chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) and acute ischemia (AI). Our primary endpoint was to compare the composite of allcause mortality and major amputation events between the three groups. RESULTS We included 309 patients, with a median follow up of 1.87 years (IQR 0.72- 3.67). The primary endpoint was more prevalent in CLTI and AI patients (33% and 33.3%) compared to IC patients (8.1%), p<0.001. CLTI and AI were independently associated with the primary endpoint after adjusting for clinical variables of interest (OR 4.04 95%CI [1.86-9.07], p<0.001 and OR 5.40 95%CI [2.18-13.7], p<0.001, respectively). Mortality incidence rate (per 100 patients/year) was similar between AI and CLTI patients (14.2 95% CI [8.0-24.1] and 13.1 95%CI [8.8-19.7], respectively, p=0.67) but higher compared to IC (2.9 95%CI [1.6-5.1], p<0.01). Major amputation events were more prevalent in CLTI (16.5%) compared to AI (8.9%) and IC patients (1.2%), p<0.01. CONCLUSIONS Those with CLTI and AI have a particular increased risk of all-cause death and major amputation events. Although mortality incidence was similar between AI and CLTI patients, the latter have an increased risk of major amputation events compared to AI and IC patients.