Simple-to-use nomogram for evaluating the incident risk of moderate-to-severe LEAD in adults with type 2 diabetes: A cross-sectional study in a Chinese population

This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of lower extremity atherosclerotic disease (LEAD) in Chinese adult type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients, and also explored the risk factors for LEAD and developed simple-to-use nomograms for LEAD and lesion degree in these patients. We retrospectively studied 4422 patients (male = 2084; female = 2338) with T2D who were ≥50. Based on lower extremity arterial ultrasound findings, we divided the patients into three groups: normal, mild, and moderate-to-severe group. The factors related to LEAD in patients with T2D were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. The risk factors for moderate-to-severe LEAD included: high HbA1c (OR = 1.07 95% CI 1.02–1.13), diabetic peripheral neuropathy (OR = 1.93 95% CI 1.57–2.37), and diabetic retinopathy (OR = 1.26 95%CI 1.01–1.57). The overall areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the nomograms for predicting the risks of LEAD and moderate-to-severe LEAD in adult T2D patients were 0.793 (95%CI 0.720, 0.824) and 0.736 (95%CI 0.678, 0.795), respectively. The developed nomograms are simple to use and enable preliminary visual prediction of the risk and degree of LEAD in Chinese T2D patients over 50 years. The nomograms are accurate to a certain degree and provide a clinical basis for predicting the occurrence and progression of LEAD.