This paper shows that PAD does not affect women and men in the same way: women are often treated less aggressively and face more perioperative complications, while men more often carry the burden of amputation, mortality, and severe limb outcomes. The full paper is worth reading because it makes clear where the true gender gap lies in PAD—not just in prevalence, but in diagnosis, treatment, and what happens after intervention.
Abstract: This paper aims to synthesize current evidence regarding the association between gender and peripheral artery disease (PAD), specifically evaluating differences in prevalence, risk factor profiles, clinical management, procedural outcomes, and limb-related complications across diverse patient populations. The review utilises 209 original studies with 3925814 total participants (ΣN). The evidence suggests a consistent gender-based treatment and outcomes gap: women are less likely to receive guideline-directed pharmacotherapy and vascular specialist care, and often experience higher perioperative morbidity, bleeding, stroke, and repeat revascularization, whereas men more often show greater hospitalized burden, PAD-related mortality, and amputation risk in PAD/diabetes cohorts. Findings on prevalence remain context-dependent, with some screening studies indicating higher ABI-defined PAD prevalence in women despite higher absolute burden in men. These findings support gender-tailored case-finding, risk-factor management, and perioperative counseling, while highlighting the need for more consistent sex-stratified reporting in vascular research.
Keywords: Peripheral Artery Disease; Gender Differences; Ankle Brachial Index; Cardiovascular Risk Factors; Revascularization Outcomes; Medical Treatment Disparities; Mortality and Morbidity; Health-Related Quality of Life; Sexual Dimorphism; Clinical Presentation
Review Stats
Final search date and database lock: 2026-03-28 10:57:07 CET
Plan: Pro (expanded craft tokens; source: Semantic Scholar)
Source: Semantic Scholar
Total Abstracts/Papers: 1825
Downloaded Abstracts/Papers: 1000
Included original and non-original Abstracts/Papers (all): 228
Included original Abstracts/Papers (Vote counting by direction of effect): 209
Reference Index (links used in paper): 67
Total participants (topic deduplicated ΣN): 3925814
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