A prospective study of peripheral occlusive arterial disease in diabetes. II. Vascular laboratory assessment.

Noninvasive tests of the peripheral circulation were used to quantify the presence and severity of occlusive arterial disease in the lower extremities in 707 subjects on entry into a prospective study. Four groups were studies: 124 normal subjects, 157 patients with clinically evident occlusive arterial disease, 295 patients with diabetes mellitus without clinically evident occlusive arterial disease, and 131 patients with diabetes mellitus and clinically evident occlusive arterial disease. The lower extremity-to-arm systolic blood pressure ratios at rest, ankle-to-arm systolic blood pressure ratios after exercise, and segmental plethysmographic recordings accurately identified the groups with occlusive arterial disease and quantified the spectrum of severity in each of the groups. The 1-minute postexercise ankle-to-arm systolic blood pressure ratio was the single best indicator in discriminating between normal subjects and patients with occlusive arterial disease. The exercise electrocardiogram was positive in 30 of the 583 patients and in none of the group of normal subjects. The systolic blood pressure was falsely elevated as a result of sclerotic, noncompressible arteries in the segment of the limb under the pneumatic cuffs in 12 of the patients but in none of the normal subjects.