Ankle brachial index as a predictor of generalized atherosclerosis
Raman, P.G.; Thakur, B.S.; Mathew, V.
Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 49: 1074-1077
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0004-5772 PMID: 11868859 Document Number: 528855
To assess ankle brachial index (ABI) as a screening method to target subclinical atherosclerosis in middle aged individuals. Total 160 patients over the age of 40 years were included in the study for a period of 16 months. Their ABI was determined either by colour Doppler method (30 patients) and/or sphygmomanometry (all 160 patients). A value of < 0.9 was taken as cutoff point for significant stenosis. Total 69 patients out of total of 160 had significantly low ABI value (43.12%) which shows that there is a very high incidence of low ABI in the community. Overall > 50% of the patients were largely asymptomatic and had presence of two or more risk factors. ABI < 0.9 was a good screening test to detect such individuals at an earlier stage (sub-clinical). A significantly low (< 0.9) ABI value can detect subclinical atherosclerotic vascular involvement and predict future occurrence of preventable major vascular event.