PADVa (Peripheral Arterial Disease in Vastmanland)

Study population

The PADVa cohort included consecutive patients who were referred to the ultrasound laboratory at the Vascular Clinic at Västmanland Hospital Västerås due to known or suspected vascular disease and who met at least one of the following criteria:

  1. symptoms of claudication and ankle-brachial index of ≤ 0.9 in the symptomatic lower extremity, or
  2. symptoms of claudication and ultrasound findings in the form of stenotic arterial change in the symptomatic lower extremity, or
  3. at least mild stenosis or occlusion in any of the internal carotid arteries (regardless of symptoms).

Between April 2006 and February 2011, there were 614 patients who met the inclusion criteria. Of these potential patients, 162 (26.4%) declined to participate. Thus, 452 (73.6%) patients remained to form the final study population.

Study protocol

Subjects underwent a comprehensive battery of examinations including:

  • Questionnaire including past and current medical problems, medication, tobacco and alcohol habits, physical activity, morbidity in the family, quality of life, type-D personality, etc.
  • Height, weight, measurements of waist and hip circumferences, blood pressure in arms and ankles
  • Dynamic and static spirometry
  • Ambulatory 24-hour blood pressure measurement
  • Resting 12-lead ECG
  • Ultrasound examinations of the heart (echocardiography) and vessels (carotid arteries, renal arteries, abdominal aorta)
  • Half of the patients without previously known diabetes (a random sample) underwent a glucose load test (with measurement of fasting B-glucose before and 120 minutes after ingestion of 75 g of glucose per oral)
  • Blood tests (including "blood, electrolyte and liver status", troponin I, P-glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol and its fractions, triglycerides, apolipoproteins, CRP, cystatin C, NT-proBNP, insulin, proinsulin, thyroid status). Blood samples are also aliquoted into microtubes and stored frozen at the Uppsala Biobank for future analyses.