P.A.D. Coalition's Sixth Annual Meeting

More than 90 people gathered in Arlington, VA on September 16, 2009, for the P.A.D. Coalition's Sixth Annual Meeting. Meeting presentations and discussions focused on peripheral arterial disease (PAD) issues including patient care, research and policy. Topics included:

Tracking Tool Addresses Prevalence of PAD: The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF), one of the nation's leading voices in the health disparities discussion, launched the PAD Atlas, a database that maps by zip code PAD prevalence down to the street level. Gary Puckrein, PhD, CEO, NMQF previewed the Atlas to the Coalition's meeting attendees. The Atlas will help the Coalition and other groups more effectively target educational and advocacy efforts to communities that need them the most. The Atlas found that the cities with the most diagnosed cases of PAD are Chicago, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Houston and Los Angeles. To view the Atlas, go to www.mappad.org.

Performance Measures Seek to Improve Quality of Care Provided to Patients with PAD: Jeff Olin, MD, chair of the American College of Cardiology (ACC)/ American Heart Association (AHA) writing group on PAD performance measures, presented draft measures that providers can utilize when managing the disease. These measures are being developed to help quantify and improve the quality of health care provided to PAD patients. The measures were developed based on the ACC/AHA Guidelines for the Management of PAD and will be published within the next six months.

Emerging Treatment for PAD: Dr. William Li, president and medical director of The Angiogenesis Foundation, gave a presentation on angiogenesis, which is the growth of new capillary blood vessels in the body, and is an important natural process in the body used for healing. Therapeutic angiogenesis is used to replenish the blood supply in areas with poor circulation and/or chronic wounds to speed healing and prevent unnecessary amputations. New research suggests that angiogenesis can be also used to save limbs affected by PAD.

New Educational Partnership Targets Women: Lisa Tate, CEO, WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, addressed meeting participants with details about a new partnership to educate women about PAD. WomenHeart's nationwide network of heart-disease survivors – WomenHeart Champions – has been trained to lead group discussions on PAD risk factors, symptoms and treatment at local community support groups and programs. New educational resources including the "Women & PAD: What You Need to Know" brochure and an online interactive quiz "How Much Do You Know About PAD?" have been produced and are being promoted through national media efforts.

At the meeting, the Coalition presented three national awards: two Best PAD Research Awards for papers published in 2008 to honor the work of investigators and acknowledge the creation of new clinical research relevant to the understanding and/or treatment of PAD and the National Stay in Circulation Community Service Award.

African Methodist Episcopal Church Connectional Health Commission Receives National Stay in Circulation Community Service Award: The AMEC Connectional Health Commission received the Stay in Circulation Community Service Award for its efforts to educate the African American community about PAD. Since PAD is more common in African Americans than any other racial or ethnic group, the AMEC Connectional Health Commission and P.A.D. Coalition developed a plan to reach AMEC church congregations with information about the disease's risk factors, warning signs and consequences. Over the last year, three trainings have been held to educate church health ministers and other leaders about PAD and available resources. A church kit, which includes copies of a PAD church bulletin insert and special "Stay in Circulation" cardboard fans, was produced and promoted to all AME churches. To date, more than 1,500 kits have been distributed.

Best PAD Research Award in Epidemiology/ Preventive Medicine was presented to Gerry Fowkes, professor of Epidemiology, Public Health Sciences Section, Division of Community Health Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Fowkes and his fellow researchers that comprise the international Ankle Brachial Index Collaboration were recognized for their work on the research study, "Ankle Brachial Index Combined With Framingham Risk Score to Predict Cardiovascular Events and Mortality: A Meta-analysis," published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA. 300:197-208, 2008).

Best PAD Research Award in Vascular Medicine went to Mary M. McDermott, MD, professor, Division of General Internal Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL. Dr. McDermott and her colleagues were recognized for their work on the research study, "Asymptomatic Peripheral Arterial Disease Is Associated With More Adverse Lower Extremity Characteristics Than Intermittent Claudication," published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association (Circulation. 117:2484-2491, 2008).