Mt. Vogt et al., THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANKLE-ARM INDEX AND MORTALITY IN OLDER MEN AND WOMEN, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 41(5), 1993, pp. 523-530
Objective: To determine whether the ankle-arm blood pressure index is
a useful predictor of mortality in a large group of patients aged 50 o
r older. Design: Cohort study over a 13-year period. Setting: Peripher
al vascular laboratory in a hospital affiliated with an academic healt
h center. Participants: 1,027 male and 903 female patients referred fo
r arterial evaluation. Outcome Measures: All-cause and cause-specific
mortality. Results: A decrease in ankle-arm index was a strong indepen
dent predictor of all-cause mortality [relative risk (RR) for men = 1.
8(95% CI 1.5, 1.9); for women = 1.5, (1.2, 2.0)] and atherosclerotic h
eart disease mortality [RR for men = 2.0 (1.4, 2.9); for women = 2.1 (
1.4, 3.1)]. The risk of mortality was inversely proportional to the an
kle-arm index. No relationship was found between the index and mortali
ty due to stroke or cancer. Conclusions: These results suggest that a
decreased ankle-arm index has important prognostic significance for mo
rtality due to atherosclerotic heart disease in older men and women. M
easurement of this index may be useful in identifying those at high ri
sk who may benefit from aggressive therapeutic intervention.