Five factors put patients with peripheral artery disease at greater or lesser risk of admission for acute limb ischemia, an international study reports.

The analysis examined data on 232 patients who were hospitalised for acute limb ischaemia and data on 13,653 patients who were not, to determine the risk factors for hospitalisation, the authors wrote in Circulation.

All participants were aged 50 or over, and had lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD) at baseline — defined by either having an ankle-brachial index of 0.8 or under, or having had a revascularisation of a leg more than one month before.

It found prognosis after admission for acute limb ischaemia was extremely poor, with a 1.4-fold greater risk of a major adverse cardiac event, 3.3-fold greater risk of all-cause mortality, and 14.2-fold greater risk of major amputation.