WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- People with peripheral arterial disease, or PAD, have up to a six-fold increase in cardiovascular death, according to U.S. experts.
Without early detection and proper treatment, one in four people with PAD will suffer a heart attack, stroke, amputation or die within the next five years, according to Dr. Alan T. Hirsch, chairman of the PAD Coalition.
"Peripheral arterial disease is the most dangerous disease that most Americans have never heard of," says Hirsch.
Characterized by blockages in the arteries that supply blood to the legs, feet, kidneys and intestines, PAD affects more than 12 million Americans.
Because PAD is a relatively unknown and deadly, but treatable disease, the U.S. government is beginning a multi-year PAD awareness campaign Sept. 19.
About one out of five Americans over the age of 70 has PAD, one out of every three people with diabetes over age 50 is likely to have PAD, African-Americans are more than twice as likely to have PAD than non-Hispanic whites, and smokers -- and former smokers -- face up to four times the risk for PAD as non-smokers, according to Hirsch.
However, most people with PAD do not have easily recognized symptoms.
