Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.) is a serious circulation problem in which narrowed arteries reduce the blood flow to one’s limbs. People working in wound care are well aware of the dangers of P.A.D., but the general public is less educated.
Since September is P.A.D. Awareness month, it is a great time to explore this topic and the impact is has on wound care patients.
Peripheral Arterial Disease can play a significant role as a contributing factor for non-healing wounds for millions of Americans.
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“When you develop peripheral artery disease (P.A.D.), your extremities — usually your legs — don’t receive enough blood flow to keep up with demand,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “This causes symptoms, most notably leg pain when walking (intermittent claudication).”
Experts at the Mayo Clinic believe that P.A.D. may be a more widespread sign of fatty deposits in the arteries, which reduce blood flow to the heart, brain and legs.
“Often, you can successfully treat peripheral artery disease by quitting tobacco, exercising and eating a healthy diet,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
How Many People Have It?
“P.A.D. currently affects 8 million to 12 million Americans. About one in every 20 Americans over the age of 50 has P.A.D.,” according to NIH Senior Health. “African Americans are more than twice as likely as Caucasians to have P.A.D.”
We need to address the problem of P.A.D. once we discover it in a wound care patient. But how do clinicians discover a patient has it?
Symptoms of P.A.D.
“The most common symptoms of P.A.D. involving the lower extremities are cramping, pain or tiredness in the leg or hip muscles while walking or climbing stairs,” according to Heart.org. “Typically, this pain goes away with rest and returns when you walk again.”
Many patients often mistake the signs of P.A.D. for something else because of a lack of education or misdiagnosis by their doctor.
Christina Le, director of clinical operations at Wound Care Advantage is well aware of the dangers of P.A.D.
“If a patient has PAD along with a wound this alters the healing because now we need to deal with the arterial disease in conjunction with wound care,” she said. “We have to coordinate care with the appropriate doctors to have interventions taken for their P.A.D if we want optimum healing.”
Increased Risks
A patient that has P.A.D. is at a higher risk to experience a heart attack or stroke. If the condition is left untreated it can result in gangrene and amputation, especially in the lower extremities.
Who is at Risk?
Individuals that smoke have an especially high risk for developing P.A.D. People that are diabetic are also at risk. According to the American Diabetes Association, as of 2012, 29.1 million Americans had diabetes. Included in that total, 8.1 million Americans don’t yet know that they have diabetes.
However, diabetics are not the only group at risk. According to Heart.org, patients with high blood pressure or high cholesterol are at risk for P.A.D. and everyone’s risk increases with age.
“To help with the fight with P.A.D. patients can quit or limit their smoking, change their diets to a heart healthy diet, exercise more,” Le said. “Diabetic patients with P.A.D. are at higher likelihood so controlling their diabetes by watching their glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol is very important.
Impact on Wound Healing
When people talk about wound care they tend to predominately focus on diabetes and obesity. Peripheral Arterial Disease can be just as serious when it comes to wounds that won’t heal and amputation. The goal in wound care is to save limbs from amputation.
“PAD is a big challenge in wound healing is because the wound isn’t getting the necessary blood flow it needs to help,” Le said. “If you are smoking, even just a few cigarettes a day, our team urges you to stop immediately.”
