Masahiro Kobayashi, MD; Shunya Shindo, MD; Kenji Kubota, MD; Atsuo Kojima, MD; Tadao Ishimoto, MD; Keiji Iyori, MD; Yusuke Tada, MD

B>Abstract
The long-term prognosis of patients suffering from intermittent ischemic claudication is reportedly worse than that of the normal population. The outcome of patients with ischemic claudication admitted to hospital was reviewed retrospectively to identify the causes of late death. The cumulative survival rates for patients with claudication were 94.6% at 1 year, 79.4% at 3 years, 67.3% at 5 years and 37.4% at 10 years. The 3 major causes of death, that is, ischemic heart disease, malignancy, and cerebrovascular accident, were equally common. The younger patients tended to die of ischemic heart disease, whereas the older patients died of cerebrovascular accidents. Malignancies caused a similar number of late deaths in all age groups. These results suggest that specific care should be given to patients with intermittent claudication based on the age-related causes of death.
(Jpn Circ J 2000; 64: 925 -927)

Key Words: Arteriosclerosis obliterans; Cerebrovascular accident; Ischemic disabling claudication; Ischemic heart disease; Malignancies

Mailing address: Masahiro Kobayashi, MD, Second Department of Surgery, Yamanashi Medical University, 1110 Shimokato, Tamaho-cho, Nakakoma-gun, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan. E-mail: masak@ res.yamanashi-med.ac.jp