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This systematic review examined the interrelationship between concomitant diabetes mellitus (DM) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD). The objective was to determine differences in the prevalence as well as in the outcomes in diabetic vs. non-diabetic PAD patients. The current review followed a study protocol that was published online in German in 2017. The search included societal practice guidelines, consensus statements, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and observational studies published from 2007 to 2020 reporting symptomatic PAD and concomitant DM in patients undergoing invasive open-surgical and endovascular revascularizations. German and English literature has been considered. Eligibility criteria were verified by three independent reviewers. Disagreement was resolved by discussion involving a fourth reviewer. 580 articles were identified. After exclusion of non-eligible studies, 61 papers from 30 countries remained, respectively 850,072 patients. The included studies showed that PAD prevalence differed between diabetic vs. non-diabetic populations (20-50% vs. 10-26%), and further by age, gender, ethnicity, duration of existing diabetes, and geographic region. The included studies revealed worse outcomes regarding perioperative complications, amputation rate, and mortality rate in diabetic patients when compared to non-diabetic patients. In both groups, the amputation rates decreased during the research period. This review emphasizes an interrelationship between PAD and DM. To improve the outcomes, early detection of PAD in diabetic patients, and vice versa, should be recommended. The results of this systematic review may help to update societal practice guidelines.

This article analyses if and to what extent gender differences exist in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) therapy. For this purpose Medline (PubMed) was searched from January 1999 to January 2018. Keywords were: "abdominal aortic aneurysm", "gender", "prevalence", "EVAR", and "open surgery of abdominal aortic aneurysm". Regardless of open or endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms, women have a higher rate of complications and longer hospitalizations compared to men. The majority of studies showed that women have a lower survival rate for surgical and endovascular treatment of abdominal aneurysms after both elective and emergency interventions. Women receive less surgical/interventional and protective medical treatment. Women seem to have a higher risk of rupture, a lower survival rate in AAA, and a higher rate of complications, regardless of endovascular or open treatment. The gender differences may be due to a higher age of women at diagnosis and therapy associated with higher comorbidity, but also because of genetic, hormonal, anatomical, biological, and socio-cultural differences. Strategies for treatment in female patients must be further defined to optimize outcome.

Background: Endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) has emerged as standard of care for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Real-world evidence is limited to compare this technology to open repair (OAR). Major gaps exist related to short-term and long-term outcomes, particularly in respect of gender differences., Materials and Methods: Health insurance claims data from Germany's third largest insurance provider, DAK-Gesundheit, was used to investigate invasive in-hospital treatment of intact (iAAA) and ruptured AAA (rAAA). Patients operated between October 2008 and April 2015 were included in the study., Results: A total of 5,509 patients (4,966 iAAA and 543 rAAA) underwent EVAR or OAR with a median follow-up of 2.44 years. Baseline demographics, comorbidities, and clinical characteristics of DAK-G patients were assessed. In total, 84.6 % of the iAAA and 79.9 % of the rAAA were male. Concerning iAAA repair, the median age (74 vs. 73 years, p < .001) compared to men was higher in females, but their EVAR-rate (66.8 % vs. 71.1 %, p = .018) was lower. Besides higher age of female patients (80 vs. 75 years, p < .001), no further statistically significant differences were seen following rAAA repair. In-hospital mortality was slightly lower in males compared to females following iAAA (2.3 % vs. 3.1 %, p = .159) and rAAA (37.3 % vs. 43.1 %, p = .273) repair. Concerning iAAA repair, a higher rate of female patients was transferred to another hospital (3.7 % vs. 2.0 %, p = 0.008) or discharged to rehabilitation (6.0 % vs. 2.7 %, p < .001) compared to male patients., Conclusions: In this large German claims data cohort, women are generally older and more often transferred to another hospital or discharged to rehab following iAAA repair. Nonetheless, no significantly increased risk of in-hospital or late death appeared for women in multivariate analyses. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the impact of recent gender-specific treatment strategies on overall outcome under real-world settings.

Background: Despite ongoing research concerning comorbidities and clinical presentation of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), the issue of gender associated differences in treatment is far from being settled., Patients and Methods: This was a prospective, non-randomized multicentre study design. All patients suffering from intermittent claudication (IC) or critical limb ischaemia (CLI) were included., Results: A total of 2,798 procedures for symptomatic PAD in the infrainguinal region were recorded, with 1,696 (61.4 %) males. Distribution of comorbidities for patients with IC were gender-specifically different. Smoking was more common in men (41.9 vs. 31.9 %, p < .001), men had more often previous coronary heart disease (35.2 vs. 27.7 %, p = .007), and suffered more often from diabetes (33.9 vs. 28.2 %, p = .037). Women were generally older (71 vs. 77 years). Men were more prone to present with IC (46.9 vs. 43.6 %, p < .001) and ulcer/gangrene (43.6 vs. 41.2 %, p < .001). Women were more likely to present with rest pain (9.5 vs. 15.1 %, p < .001). Men were more often treated for a lesion below the knee (BTK) (21.1 vs. 14.9 %, p < .001), and females above the knee (ATK) (58.1 vs. 61.5 %, p < .001). Logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association of male gender and treatment for lesions BTK (OR 1.565, 95 % CI 1.281-1.913, p < .001). Dissections and bleeding complications were more often observed in females with IC (3.3 vs. 7.2 %, p = 0.003; 0.4 vs. 1.5 %, p = 0.044). Women were rather discharged to rehabilitation and had a longer hospital stay compared to men (3.4 vs. 8.9 %, p < .001; three vs. four days, p = .023)., Conclusions: The present study provides an overview on gender-specific differences in endovascular treatment of PAD. To date, available evidence on this topic is limited, emphasising the importance of further vascular research targeting this topic.

The expansion of procedures in multidisciplinary vascular medicine has sparked a controversy regarding measures of quality improvement. In addition to primary registries, the use of health insurance claims data is becoming of increasing importance. However, due to the fact that health insurance claims data are not collected for scientific evaluation but rather for reimbursement purposes, meticulous validation is necessary before and during usage in research and quality improvement matters. This review highlights the advantages and disadvantages of such data sources. A recent comprehensive expert opinion panel examined the use of health insurance claims data and other administrative data sources in medicine. Results from several studies concerning the validity of administrative data varied significantly. Validity of these data sources depends on the clinical relevance of the diagnoses considered. The rate of implausible information was 0.04 %, while the validity of the considered diagnoses varied between 80 and 97 % across multiple validation studies. A matching study between health insurance claims data of the third-largest German health insurance provider, DAK-Gesundheit, and a prospective primary registry of the German Society for Vascular Surgery demonstrated a good level of validity regarding the mortality of endovascular and open surgical treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm in German hospitals. In addition, a large-scale international comparison of administrative data for the same disorder presented important results in treatment reality, which differed from those from earlier randomized controlled trials. The importance of administrative data for research and quality improvement will continue to increase in the future. When discussing the internal and external validity of this data source, one has to distinguish not only between its intended usage (research vs. quality improvement), but also between the included diseases and/or treatment procedures. Linkage between primary registry data and administrative data could be a reasonable solution to some current major issues of validity.
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This overview analyses gender differences in prevalence, epidemiology, risk factors and therapy in patients with carotid stenosis in a systematic review. Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death in Western society, where about 20% of cases are triggered by a carotid stenosis or occlusion, which occurs more frequently in men than in women. The stroke-protective effect of carotid endarterectomy is greater in men. Men have lower peri-procedural stroke and death rates. Particularly men with carotid stenosis and a life expectancy of at least 5 years benefit from surgical treatment. Also, the recurrence rate of ipsilateral stroke 5 years after initial surgery is lower in men than in women. It is not yet fully clarified whether there are significant gender differences regarding the outcome after endovascular versus surgical treatment. Gender differences in the outcome of carotid artery repair may be caused by biological, anatomical (smaller vessel diameter in women) or hormonal differences as well as a protracted development of atherosclerotic changes in women and different plaque morphology. Moreover, women are on average older at the time of surgery and their surgical treatment is often delayed. To reduce the risk of stroke and to improve treatment outcome especially for women, further research on gender differences and their causes is mandatory and promising.