Underuse of Cardiovascular Medications in Individuals With Known Lower Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease: HCHS/SOL

Background

Underuse of cardiovascular medications for secondary prevention among individuals with peripheral artery disease (PAD) has been reported. Little is known about PAD treatment status in the Hispanic/Latino population in the United States, who may have limited access to health care and who have worse clinical outcomes than non‐Hispanic individuals.

Methods and Results

We studied the use of cardiovascular therapies in 1244 Hispanic/Latino individuals recruited from 4 sites in the United States, including 826 individuals who reported diagnosis of PAD by physician and 418 individuals with coronary artery disease alone, in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos. We compared the prevalence of using antiplatelet therapy, lipid‐lowering therapy and antihypertensive therapy by PAD and coronary artery disease status. Among those with PAD, we studied factors associated with taking cardiovascular medications, including demographic and socioeconomic factors, acculturation, access to health care and comorbidities, using multivariable regression models. The overall prevalence for individuals with PAD taking antiplatelet therapy, lipid‐lowering therapy and, among hypertensive individuals, antihypertensive therapy was 31%, 26% and 57%, respectively. Individuals of Mexican background had the lowest use for all classes of cardiovascular medications. Older age, number of doctor visits and existing hypertension and diabetes mellitus were significantly associated with taking cardiovascular therapies in adjusted models. Compared with those with PAD alone, individuals with PAD and concurrent coronary artery disease were 1.52 (95% CI, 1.20–1.93) and 1.74 (1.30–2.32) times more likely to use antiplatelet agents and statins according to multivariable analysis. No significant difference of antihypertensive medication use was found among PAD patients with or without coronary artery disease.

Conclusions

Hispanic/Latino individuals with known PAD underuse cardiovascular medications recommended in clinical guidelines. More efforts should be directed to improve treatment in this important group.