Abstract
Background and objectives: Patients undergoing hemodialysis are more likely to suffer from peripheral arterial disease. Traditional cardiovascular risk factors unique to are responsible for this greater occurrence. This study investigates the clinical characteristics, risk factors, and prevalence of a cohort of patients in Iraq.
Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Hemodialysis Unit of Hawler Teaching Hospital, Erbil, Iraq, from August 2022 to March 2023, that enrolled 160 patients on maintenance hemodialysis. Demographic data, comorbidities, and baseline clinical and laboratory characteristics were obtained. The ankle-brachial index assessed < 0.9 and/ or peripheral arterial disease symptoms were used to be diagnostic.
Results: The prevalence of peripheral arterial disease among hemodialysis patients was 36.3%; 58.6% were males, with a mean age of 58.3± 9.9 years. Coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, and advanced age all increase the risk of peripheral arterial disease. Peripheral arterial disease symptoms, low hemoglobin, elevated C-reactive protein, and higher glycated hemoglobin levels, with significant p-values (0.04, 0.016, < 0.001, 0.012, 0.01, 0.04, and <0.001, respectively). The study failed to detect a correlation between peripheral arterial disease and factors like sex, body mass index, blood pressure, dyslipidemia, smoking, cerebrovascular disease, hemodialysis duration, dialysis adequacy, parathyroid hormone and albumin.
Conclusion: Peripheral arterial disease is prevalent among patients undergoing hemodialysis. Individuals suffering from peripheral arterial disease are frequently asymptomatic, older, have diabetes, coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease symptoms, anemia, elevated C-reactive protein, and higher glycated hemoglobin.