The correlation between the ankle-brachial index and the metabolic syndrome

On a global scale, the cardiovascular diseases constitute the prime factor of death and invalidity. The premature mortality percentage caused by these varies from 4% in high developed countries to 40% in underdeveloped countries. Atherosclerosis is the most important etiological factor. The presence of various degrees of atherosclerosis in a certain vascular area (in our case, the lower limb arteries), increases the probability of affecting other areas as well (coronary, cerebral, renal, mesenteric arteries). The evaluation and description of the correlations between the ankle-brachial index levels and the cardiovascular risk factors, taken individually or as part of the metabolic syndrome. The values of the ankle-brachial index were divided in normal and abnormal. The evaluated cardiovascular risk factors were: age, sex, arterial hypertension, obesity, smoking, high levels of cholesterol and basal glucose, low levels of HDL-cholesterol. There were significant statistical differences between the normal ankle-brachial index lot and the one with abnormal values, specifically in patients with diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome. More so, the study demonstrates that the ankle-brachial index is considerably smaller in patients with metabolic syndrome. The simple measurement of the afore mentioned index, as a atherosclerosis marker for the lower limb arteries, represents an independent prediction over the metabolic syndrome and the conventional risk factors, in the development of the cardiovascular diseases. The routine measurement of this parameter in medical practice might imply the early diagnosis of high risk manifested cardiovascular disease patients.