Extract

Patients with lower-extremity arterial disease (LEAD) belong to the highest cardiovascular risk category, a fate which they share with patients with a previous acute coronary syndrome, stroke or transient ischaemic attack, patients after coronary or other arterial revascularization procedures or patients with an aortic aneurysm.1 As such, these patients have the highest potential to profit from intensive risk factor management. This implies, however, that general practitioners and involved specialists are sensitive to the diagnosis and its consequence for prognosis.2

In the last 30 years, a more than 60% reduction in ischaemic heart disease mortality for both sexes was observed in Western and also, to a lesser extent, in Eastern Europe.3 Concerning the mortality of LEAD patients, however, in the present issue of the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, Godall et al.4 report about the opposite trend in mortality with an increase in the majority of countries, despite a decrease in incidence.

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