Beschreibung:
<jats:p>
<jats:bold>
<jats:italic>Background—</jats:italic>
</jats:bold>
Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and diabetes are both associated with a high risk of ischemic events, but the role of intensive blood pressure control in PAD has not been established.
</jats:p>
<jats:p>
<jats:bold>
<jats:italic>Methods and Results—</jats:italic>
</jats:bold>
The Appropriate Blood Pressure Control in Diabetes study followed 950 subjects with type 2 diabetes for 5 years; 480 of the subjects were normotensive (baseline diastolic blood pressure of 80 to 89 mm Hg). Patients randomized to placebo (moderate blood pressure control) had a mean blood pressure of 137±0.7/81±0.3 mm Hg over the last 4 years of treatment. In contrast, patients randomized to intensive treatment with enalapril or nisoldipine had a mean 4-year blood pressure of 128±0.8/75±0.3 mm Hg (
<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>
<0.0001 compared with moderate control). PAD, which is defined as an ankle-brachial index <0.90 at the baseline visit, was diagnosed in 53 patients. In patients with PAD, there were 3 cardiovascular events (13.6%) on intensive treatment compared with 12 events (38.7%) on moderate treatment (
<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>
=0.046). After adjustment for multiple cardiovascular risk factors, an inverse relationship between ankle-brachial index and cardiovascular events was observed with moderate treatment (
<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>
=0.009), but not with intensive treatment (
<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>
=0.91). Thus, with intensive blood pressure control, the risk of an event was not increased, even at the lowest ankle-brachial index values, and was the same as in a patient without PAD.
</jats:p>
<jats:p>
<jats:bold>
<jats:italic>Conclusions—</jats:italic>
</jats:bold>
In PAD patients with diabetes, intensive blood pressure lowering to a mean of 128/75 mm Hg resulted in a marked reduction in cardiovascular events.
</jats:p>