Grade of evidence on the use of the ankle brachial index to diagnose Peripheral Arterial Disease in type 2 diabetics

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a chronic and progressive inflammatory disorder that appears as the main etiological factor of Peripheral Arterial Disease. The prevalence of Peripheral Arterial Disease in the Spanish general population is between 4% and 9% and is expected to be increasing in the coming years. It has been shown that diabetics have high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and that the ankle brachial index helps to improve cardiovascular risk stratification. In this paper a review is performed using GRADE methodology (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations) in PubMed, Scopus, IBECS and Cochrane Library Plus databases in order to determine the prevalence of Peripheral Arterial Disease diagnosed by the ankle brachial index, to know the existence of evidence supporting the utility of the ankle brachial index for its diagnose and to know which are the risk factors influencing a low ankle brachial index determination (< 0.90).