Heart Condition Saturday: Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
This week’s Heart Condition Saturday focuses on peripheral artery disease (PAD). PAD is the most common type of peripheral vascular disease affecting as many as 8 to 12 million Americans. As with most heart disease, age, smoking, diabetes, and high cholesterol are the main risk factors.
From the American Heart Association:
Symptoms of Severe PAD
- Foot pain that does not go away when you stop exercising
- Foot or toe wounds that will not heal or heal very slowly
- Gangrene
- A marked decrease in the temperature of your lower leg or foot particularly compared to the other leg or to the rest of your body.
Understanding leg pain
Many people dismiss leg pain as a normal sign of aging. You may think it’s arthritis or sciatica or just “stiffness” from getting older. PAD leg pain occurs in the muscles, not the joints. Those with diabetes might confuse PAD pain with a neuropathy, a common diabetic symptom that is a burning or painful discomfort of the feet or thighs. If you are experiencing any kind of recurring pain, talk to your healthcare professional and describe the pain as accurately as possible. If you have any of the risk factors for PAD, you should ask your healthcare professional about PAD even if you are not experiencing symptoms.
NB: I know I’m posting this on Sunday. Please forgive me!
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1 opinion for Heart Condition Saturday: Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)
A Hearty Life » Metabolic Syndrome Increases Risk of Heart Failure
May 24, 2006 at 4:17 am
[...] Obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance all seem to occur together in a condition called metabolic syndrome. People with metabolic syndrome are not only at risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and type 2 diabetes, they are also at higher risk of heart failure. In a recent study, men with metabolic syndrome were twice as likely to develop heart failure as those without. This increase in risk was independent of smoking and previous history of heart disease. [...]
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