Beyond the Arteries in Peripheral Artery Disease

Abstract Objectives. This study aimed to examine peripheral artery disease severity impact on psychological profile of arteriopathy patients. Material and methods. The prospective study included consecutive PAD patients admitted to the 2nd Department of Internal Medicine and the Department of Cardiology of the Emergency Clinical Hospital “Sf. Spiridon” Iasi, between January and September, 2017. Rezults. The group included 139 PAD patients, 80.6% male and 19.4% female, with an average age of 63.23±9.44 years. PAD stages have a very strong association with level of quality of life (p<0.0001). All Leriche-Fontaine classification categories were significantly associated with the depressive symptoms (p<0.0001). The stress level was moderate in stages IIA, IIB and III and extremely severe in the terminal stage. The prevalence of anxiety was lowest in incipient PADstages with the highest value in stage III. Conclusions. The fragment of the PhD study presented the psychological profile in the PAD staging and advocates a personalized, wide-ranging approach to the arteriopathy patient including pain and depressive-anxiety management, with amajor impact on the quality of life at terminal stages.