Predictive value of the ankle-brachial index in the evaluation of intermittent claudication

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ankle-brachial index (ABI) could be used to predict the prognosis for a patient with intermittent claudication (IC). We studied 611 patients prospectively during 28 months of follow-up. We analyzed the predictive power of using various levels of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Revista do Hospital das Clinicás 2000-04, Vol.55 (2), p.61-64
Main Authors: Wolosker, N, Rosoky, R A, Nakano, L, Basyches, M, Puech-Leão, P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ankle - blood supply
Brachial Artery - physiopathology
Hemodynamics
Humans
Intermittent Claudication - physiopathology
MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL
Prognosis
Prospective Studies
Regional Blood Flow
Sensitivity and Specificity
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ankle-brachial index (ABI) could be used to predict the prognosis for a patient with intermittent claudication (IC). We studied 611 patients prospectively during 28 months of follow-up. We analyzed the predictive power of using various levels of ABI - 0.30 to 0.70 at 0.05 increments - in terms of the measure's specificity (association with a favorable outcome after exercise rehabilitation therapy) and sensitivity (association with a poor outcome after exercise rehabilitation therapy). We found that using an ABI of 0.30 as a cut-off value produced the lowest margin of error overall, but the predictive power was still low with respect to identifying the patients with a poor prognosis after non-aggressive therapeutic treatment. Further study is needed to perhaps identify a second factor that could increase the sensitivity of the test.
ISSN:0041-8781
1678-9903
0041-8781
DOI:10.1590/S0041-87812000000200005