Correlation between toe brachial index and walking ability in peripheral arterial disease with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Background: The primary symptom of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is intermittent claudication and the most common non-invasive diagnostic method is ankle brachial index. Peripheral arterial disease is usually accompanied by various other co-morbidities like type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. Literature suggests that when peripheral arterial disease is accompanied by type 2 diabetes mellitus, the ankle-brachial index can be falsely elevated due to medial calcification of the arteries. Therefore, an assessment of microcirculation using the toe brachial index is needed to diagnose PAD in these individuals. It has been well established that walking ability and ankle-brachial index are correlated in peripheral arterial disease. However, there is a dearth of literature on whether there is a correlation between toe brachial index (TBI) and walking ability. Therefore, the objective of the study is to find the correlation between toe brachial index and walkin