Causes & Symptoms

Causes

Intermittent Claudication is a symptom of peripheral arterial disease that results from the restriction of blood flow to the limbs.

Risk factors are similar to other forms of cardiovascular disease. In particular, smoking doubles the risk of peripheral arterial disease and hypertension increases the risk 2.5 to 4 times.

Symptoms

Patients with Intermittent Claudication first notice discomfort in their calves or buttocks when they walk, which disappears when they rest. Other symptoms include reduced leg and foot pulses and coldness in the extremities.

Over time, about two thirds of patients remain stable or even improve as other blood vessels widen to accommodate more blood bypassing the blocked artery. However, the other third of patients report increasingly severe symptoms, including increasing pain and discomfort, which inhibits walking. These symptoms may be associated with:

Critical Limb Ischaemia: continuous pain, even when the patient is at rest; the development of leg and foot ulcers; and gangrene in the toes or pressure points of the feet.

Amputation: about 2% of Intermittent Claudication patients eventually require amputation.

Cardiovascular disease: Within 10 years of onset of intermittent claudication, 43% of patients will have developed coronary heart disease, 24% will have heart failure and 21% a stroke.

Reduced life expectancy: 10 years from onset, around 60% of intermittent claudication patients will have died.