BackgroundCardiovascular diseases are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in
developed and emerging countries. Their main etiology, atherosclerosis, is a
disseminated disease that affects the coronary, cerebral and peripheral
territories. The peripheral arterial disease (PAD), as well as its consequences,
indicates the involvement of the coronary territory. Therefore, its better
understanding enables proper treatment, delaying local and long-term
complications, reducing the cost to the health system. Objective This study estimates the percentage of PAD in Japanese-Brazilians from Bauru
(SP), recognized by the high prevalence of metabolic disorders such as
hypertension (43%), diabetes mellitus (33%) and hypercholesterolemia (60%), and
examines the association with risk biomarkers. MethodsThis cross-sectional population study evaluated 1,330 Japanese-Brazilians of both
genders aged ≥ 30 who underwent a complete physical examination,
anthropometric measurements, laboratory tests and ankle-brachial index (ABI).
Participants with ABI ≤ 0.90 were diagnosed as having PAD. After applying
the exclusion criteria, 1,038 individuals were part of the analysis. We used
Poisson regression to analyze associations with PAD. Results The mean age was 56.8 years and the percentage of PAD was 21.1%, equal among the
genders. PAD was associated with smoking (PR 2.16 [1.33 to 3.48])
and hypertension (PR 1.56 [1.12-2.22]). ConclusionThe percentage of PAD in Japanese-Brazilians was similar to other populations of
adverse cardiometabolic profile (US PARTNERS and POPADAD). The independent
association of PAD with smoking and hypertension, but not with other classical
risk factors, may depend on the very high frequencies of metabolic disorders in
this population.