Treatment of peripheral arterial disease focuses on the “modifiable” risk factors: smoking, physical inactivity, high blood glucose, high blood lipids, and high blood pressure.[1][2][3]
- Stopping smoking reduces the risk of amputation and heart attack, and prolongs survival.[4]
- Regular exercise relieves intermittent claudication (calf pain during walking) and improves exercise capacity and quality of life.[5][6]
- Lipid-lowering drugs lessen the risk of coronary events.[7][8] If the patient has diabetes or hypertension, glucose-lowering and blood pressure-lowering therapies are also recommended.[1][9]
Other drugs are also used to lessen symptoms of intermittent claudication and improve walking distance (e.g., cilostazol[10]) and to help prevent major cardiovascular events (e.g., clopidogrel[11][12]).