IJCS | Volume 31, Nº4, July / August 2018

411 Alvim et al. Prevalence of peripheral artery disease Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2018;31(4)405-413 Original Article Table 4 - Comparison of clinical characteristics among individuals with and without peripheral artery disease Clinical characteristics Total (1,627) PAD present (n = 17) PAD absent (n = 1,610) p value Hypertension (%) Yes 40.0 82.4 39.6 < 0.001 No 60.0 17.6 60.4 Diabetes (%) Yes 7.7 41.2 7.4 < 0.001 No 92.3 58.8 92.6 Obesity (%) Yes 19.1 41.2 18.9 0.03 No 80.9 58.8 81.1 Hypercholesterolemia (%) Yes 15.9 12.5 15.9 0.52 No 84.1 87.5 84.1 Angina pectoris (%) Yes 3.0 5.9 2.9 0.40 No 97.0 94.1 97.1 Myocardial infarction (%) Yes 2.2 11.8 2.1 0.05 No 97.8 88.2 97.9 Stroke (%) Yes 0.6 5.9 0.5 0.09 No 99.4 94.1 99.5 Kidney failure (%) Yes 2.5 5.9 2.4 0.35 No 97.5 94.1 97.6 Depression (%) Yes 19.2 29.4 19.1 0.21 No 80.8 70.6 80.9 All variables are categorical and were compared using the chi-square test. PAD: peripheral artery disease. Table 5 - Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis of peripheral artery disease (defined as an ankle-brachial index < 0.90) in a Brazilian population Variables PAD OR (95%CI), p value Univariate Multivariate Age 1.08 (1.05 to 1.13), < 0.001 1.08 (1.03 to 1.13), 0.001 Hypertension 7.12 (2.04 to 24.90), < 0.001 1.53 (0.39 to 5.98), 0.54 Diabetes 8.77 (3.28 to 23.46), < 0.001 3.07 (1.07 to 8.85), 0.04 Obesity 3.01 (1.14 to 7.96), 0.03 2.89 (0.97 to 8.66), 0.06 Myocardial infarction 6.18 (1.36 to 28.07), 0.02 2.19 (0.44 to 11.02), 0.34 Smoking 3.56 (1.31 to 9.68), 0.01 4.01 (1.34 to 11.97), 0.01 Sedentary lifestyle 4.70 (1.53 to 14.48), 0.007 3.75 (1.16 to 12.03), 0.03 Multivariate model: age, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, myocardial infarction, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle. PAD: peripheral artery disease; OR: odds ratio; 95%CI: 95% confidence interval. factor. Other studies have also found a weak association betweenPADandhypercholesterolemiawhen comparing risk factors 16 or no association whatsoever. 35 Our study has some limitations. First, as a cross- sectional analysis, a causal relationship between several cardiovascular risk factors and PAD could not be established. Second, the diagnosis of PAD in the present study was established only by ABI. Despite being a simple and inexpensivemethod, studies have shown that ABI has a high sensitivity (90 - 97%) and specificity (98 - 100%) for detection of arterial stenosis greater than 50%. 36 Conclusion In summary, in a sample from the Brazilian population, aged 18 years and above and residing in a small rural town, PADhad a lowprevalence, clearly increasedwith age, and was more frequent in blacks than whites. Additionally, risk factors for PAD in the investigated population were smoking, sedentary lifestyle, diabetes mellitus, and age, risk factors in the study sample. This finding is aligned with that of several other studies. 16,17,19,32,34 Even though PAD is majorly caused by atherosclerotic disease, hypercholesterolemia was not found as a significant risk