AHA Scientific Statement A Call to Action: Women and Peripheral Artery Disease A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association Endorsed by the Vascular Disease Foundation and its Peripheral Artery Disease Coalition

Summary Statements 1. The gender- and age-specific prevalence of PAD hasnot been clearly defined from published population-based studies.2. Although the age-dependent prevalence of PAD in adultwomen is lower than for men, the total populationburden of PAD appears to be higher.3. Cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality, and majorcoronary event rates by gender have not been welldefined in population-based studies. A trend exists thatsuggests higher event rates for women than for men forindividuals with an ABI 0.90.Future studies of PAD prevalence and risk should (1)clearly define the methods by which PAD was ascertained;(2) include gender-specific, and preferably age-specific, prev-alence values; (3) evaluate the possibility of study-specificselection bias; and (4) explicitly state how the blood pressuremeasurements for the ABI were obtained and how the ABIwas calculated. Clinical Presentation of PAD in Women Leg Symptoms in Women Although intermittent claudication is considered a hall-mark manifestation of lower extremity PAD, it is wellestablished that many patients with PAD do not presentwith classic symptoms.