Do People With Peripheral Artery Disease Have High Blood Pressure?

About 35 to 55 percent of peripheral artery disease patients at presentation also show hypertension.⁽¹⁾

When left untreated the Peripheral artery disease may lead to gangrene & amputation.⁽²⁾

Peripheral artery disease or peripheral arterial disease is a type of circulatory disease. Accordingly, the problem causes the narrowing of the arteries to reduce the flow of blood to the limbs. When you develop the problem of peripheral artery disease to its extremities especially in the legs, you fail to receive enough blood flow to fulfill the demand. This leads to certain symptoms in the legs i.e. leg pain while you walk. Peripheral artery disease is a sign of widespread accumulation of fatty buildups in the arteries i.e. atherosclerosis. This condition leads to a reduction in the blood flow to the brain and heart, along with the legs.⁽³⁾

If you leave your problem of hypertension i.e. high blood pressure untreated for a long time, it put a huge strain on your arteries. Especially, the high blood pressure affects your arteries of the legs and arms badly and causes narrowing of blood vessels in your legs. This results in painful cramps and aches both when you walk and take rest.

Moreover, high blood pressure may cause the arteries to become relatively narrower than before. They also cause damages to arteries severely, while leads to the buildup of fatty deposits across the damaged areas. These deposits continue to make the arteries narrow and lead to poor circulation in the feet and legs. Doctors refer to these problems as peripheral artery disease.

Indeed, high blood pressure is a prime risk factor related to peripheral artery disease. Thus, any patient suffering from a peripheral artery or vascular disease may be a patient of hypertension i.e. high blood pressure. On the other side, if you lower your blood pressure via certain medicines and lifestyle changes, you will expect to reduce the risk. Furthermore, if you are in the habit of smoking cigarettes and following an unhealthy diet you should take steps to quit smoking and start following a healthy diet respectively. Besides, if you are not physically active enough or overweight, you should put effort to lose your extra weight. In simple words, you should switch to a healthy lifestyle and thereby, reduce your risk to develop peripheral artery disease and lower the blood pressure.⁽⁴⁾

To conclude, we should say that a person suffers from peripheral artery disease may even be a patient of high blood pressure.

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Also Read:

• Peripheral Artery Disease: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Do’s & Don’ts
• What is Peripheral Artery Disease: Causes, Signs, Symptoms, Diagnosis
• Treatment for Peripheral Artery Disease: Medications, Surgery, Exercise Program
• Recovery Period of Peripheral Artery Disease & its Prognosis|Diet, Exercise, Yoga for Peripheral Artery Disease