Black Women Are More Likely to Develop Peripheral Artery Disease

Black women are more likely to develop peripheral artery disease.

Cases of PAD tend to start in younger women, and in Black women, it progresses faster than women of other races.

According to Kyra Daigle, PA-C, a Physician Assistant with The Vascular Center at Mercy in Baltimore, PAD occurs when the vessels and arteries in the legs narrow over time due to an accumulation of cholesterol that turns into plaque.

Some risk factors include smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, poorly controlled diabetes and social stressors.

"A patient will be walking a certain distance, and they'll notice they'll have to stop because their legs start to burn and hurt quite badly. They'll notice that when they stop and rest for 30 seconds to a minute, that this pain will resolve, and then, they might notice that as the disease progresses, this distance gets shorter and shorter and the pain becomes more intolerable," Daigle said.

Staying active is important and that if things get bad, patients could need surgery. Limb loss is rare, but is a possibility.

View Mercy physician assistant Kyra Daigle's interview regarding peripheral artery disease and African-American women.