Peripheral Arterial Disease Patients’ awareness of smoking as a risk factor Class 5, 1 st year 2009/2010 Adviser: Sérgio Sampaio

McDermott MM. Cleve Clin J Med Remes L, et al Gutacker N, et al Zanati SG, et al. Clinics INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND Narrowing and hardening of arteries Decreased blood flowPAD Difficulty in walking, rest pain, ulceration, lower extremity amputation, death.

Risk Factors Hypertension Hypercholesterolemia Diabetes Smoking Selvin E. et al. Circulation Criqui MH. Vasc Med

Awareness of smoking as a risk factor Hirsch AT et al. Circulation

Justification We decided to evaluate the awareness of smoking as a risk factor because: People, most of the times, cannot control the expression of diabetes, but it is their choice to smoke or not to; There is a low community consciousness of this risk factor.

Justification It will be important to know the awareness of the Portuguese PAD patients to this modifying risk factor, because that way it will be easier to define strategies to improve the communication and to try to make people change their smoking habits.

Research Question How aware are patients with PAD regarding smoking as a major risk factor?

Aims 1. Quantify how frequently patients with PAD know about smoking as a cause and a prognostic of their condition. 2. Determine when and by whom were they warned about this fact. 3. Find out whether people in this state have changed or not their smoking habits due to the provided information. (If they have) Find out if the severity of the disease altered.

Participants and Methods Our target population are Portuguese patients suffering from PAD who are admitted in a hospital. Our inclusion criterion is the patients with PAD being admitted in the Vascular Surgery Department of Hospital de S. João. Our exclusion criteria are: Patients unable to consciously communicate; Patients who do not agree to get involved in this study.

Participants and Methods

Study design Analytic retrospective cohort: patients who were informed of tobacco as a risk factor with patients who were not (cohort) events that happened in the past (retrospective): try to establish the relations among them (analytic) Present PastFuture Informed Not Informed

Data collecting methods Questionnaires were done to patients suffering from PAD, who were admitted in the Vascular Surgery Department of Hospital de São João.

Sample Exclusion criterion: Patients unable to consciously communicate.

Variables description Personal data of PAD patients Diabetes; Hypertension; Hypercholesterolemia; State of the disease at the time of the diagnosis, according to Lerishe-Fontaine classification; Current state of the disease; Date of PAD diagnosis; Smoking habits;

Variables description PAD risk factors awareness Awareness of: Diabetes; Hypercholesterolemia; Hypertension; Smoking; Knowledge sources; If the information was given by a doctor, another variable we decided to put was the specialty of the doctor. Time of risk factors awareness.

Variables description Behaviour changes after awareness of PAD risk factors: Change of smoking habits; Way of change; Number of attempts, if the interviewed patient tried to quit smoking without success.

Statistical analysis/Expected results Scholar degree and the awareness of the risk factors; Time of risk factors awareness and date of PAD diagnosis; Change of smoking habits (type of change) and state of the disease after that behaviour change (evolution of the disease).

Sample description

Mean=64,71

Sample description

Results Hirsch AT et al. Circulation

Results

Observations After 20 days, we have a small sample (N=28). Therefore, the results we achieved were not statiscally significant and there is no variability among some data. We were not able to relate some important variables, such as Change of smoking habits (type of change) and State of the disease after that behaviour change (evolution of the disease).