The Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.) Coalition presented the Coalition's second annual Best P.A.D. Research Awards to the top three research papers on P.A.D. published in 2009 at the organization's Seventh Annual Meeting in Alexandria, VA last week. The Best P.A.D. Research Awards honor the work of investigators and acknowledge the creation of new clinical research relevant to the understanding and/or treatment of peripheral arterial disease.
The Best P.A.D. Research Award in Vascular Medicine was presented to Diane Treat-Jacobson, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing in Minneapolis, MN. She and her colleagues were recognized for their work on the research study, Efficacy of Arm-ergometry versus Treadmill Exercise Training to improve Walking Distance in Patients with Claudication, published in the journal Vascular Medicine (14:203-13, 2009). Previous studies have demonstrated that treadmill exercise training can help people with P.A.D. walk farther and with less pain. Dr. Treat-Jacobson's study compared traditional treadmill exercise training with a dynamic arm exercise program using an arm ergometer, a table-top device in which the arms move pedals in a circular motion. The study showed that dynamic arm exercise training can improve walking ability in P.A.D. patients similar to treadmill walking programs and may be a good treatment option.
The Best P.A.D. Research Award in Epidemiology/Preventive Medicine went to Professor Curt Diehm. He and his colleagues are recognized for their work on the study, Mortality and Vascular Morbidity in Older Adults with Asymptomatic Versus Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease (Circulation. 120:2053-61, 2009).
Professor Diehm is the head of the Department of Internal Medicine/Vascular Medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital University of Heidelberg in Germany. His study assessed the mortality and vascular morbidity risk of elderly individuals with asymptomatic versus symptomatic P.A.D. in the primary care setting. The study confirmed that mortality risk was similar in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with P.A.D. and was significantly higher than those without the disease. He concluded that a P.A.D. diagnosis has important prognostic value in the primary care setting.
Joseph Feinglass, PhD, received the Best P.A.D. Research Award in Vascular Interventions. Dr. Feinglass is a Research Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and the Institute for Healthcare Studies at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is a health services researcher with a degree in Public Policy Analysis. Dr. Feinglass and his colleagues were recognized for their study, Perioperative outcomes and amputation-free survival after lower extremity bypass surgery in California hospitals, 1996-1999, with follow-up through 2004 (Journal of Vascular Surgery. 50:776-783, 2009). The study looked at more than 28,000 patients discharged from 345 California hospitals. The study showed that patients from high-volume hospitals had better perioperative and long-term outcomes of lower extremity bypass surgery. Risk factors such as advanced age, comorbidities, gangrene, and emergency or nursing home admission were associated with an increased risk for adverse outcomes. African American and Hispanic patients had much higher amputation rates but did not have higher mortality risk after controlling for baseline factors.
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