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Objectives: Due to an increase in the percentage of older people in industrialized countries there is an increasing demand for medical care for the elderly. With advancing age, a series of structural, architectural and compositional modifications take place in the vasculature. Therefore, we analyzed the influence of patient age on the reocclusion rate of recanalized peripheral arteries. Patients and Methods: 471 patients (mean age ± SD: 62 ± 12 years, range: 28–90 years) successfully treated by interventional recanalization were followed up (mean ± SD: 18 ± 17 months, range:6–48 months). Reocclusion of the recanalized arterial segment could be proven in 175 patients (37%), whereas octogenarians had the highest patency rate i.e. 68%. Univariate analysis, multivariate logistic regression analysis, and ROC analysis were performed. Results: The univariate analysis showed a significant relation between reocclusion and PAOD stage, hyperlipoproteinemia, and total cholesterol level and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), respectively. Excluding age-related risk factors, the multivariate logistic regression analysis with backward selection reached a significant level for PAOD stage with p = 0.0012 and an odds ratio of 1.63, and for ESR with a p = 0.0013 and an odds ratio of only 1.02. Age did not reach a significant level with a p value of 0.13 and an odds ratio of 0.98. In the ROC analysis, prognostic relevance could be shown for the combination of PAOD stage and ESR adjusted for age and hyperlipidemia, and for PAOD stage and ESR value as a single prognostic factor, but not for patient age. Conclusion: Thus, despite proven and hypothetical differences in the vascular biology of older people compared to younger people, age is not related to middle term patency rates after interventional recanalization of peripheral arterial occlusions. Copyright © 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]