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. 2026 Jan 16;12:1682178. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1682178

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© 2026 Fang, Xue, Chen, Qing, Liu and Guo.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Flowchart depicting participant selection for a study. Initially, 540 participants were recruited. Exclusions were: 14 did not meet PAD criteria, 3 had advanced cancer, and 3 declined participation, leaving 520 meeting inclusion criteria. After excluding 21 invalid questionnaires, 499 participants with PAD were included. — Flowchart of research participant recruitment.