Table 2.

Evidence of “Late” Diagnosis of Lower-Extremity Peripheral Artery Disease

“Stage” of patient's first ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for lower-extremity PAD	Proportion of patients (%)	Median time from first PAD diagnosis until diagnosis of PAD with ulceration (days)
PAD with ulceration	64	—
PAD with rest pain	5	103
PAD with intermittent claudication	17	195
PAD, unspecified stage	14	—
Total	100	—

Data were sourced from the Optum Labs Data Warehouse, a longitudinal, real-world data asset with deidentified administrative claims and EHR data. Among 31,572 patients who ultimately had a diagnosis of lower-extremity PAD with ulceration. Data from the Optum Labs Data Warehouse for 31,572 patients who had an ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for lower-extremity PAD with ulceration (on their EHR problem list or on a claim for a clinical encounter) illustrates the delay in diagnosis of PAD. This table displays the proportion whose first diagnosis code for lower-extremity PAD was associated with each “stage” of the disease. Sixty-four percent had no diagnosis of lower-extremity PAD before the diagnosis associated with ulceration. For those whose initial PAD diagnosis was associated with an earlier stage (rest pain or intermittent claudication), the median time from that initial diagnosis to the diagnosis indicating ulceration was strikingly short.

EHR, electronic health record; ICD-10-CM, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification; PAD, peripheral artery disease.