Table 1.

Preventing Cardiovascular Events in Peripheral Artery Disease

Prevention of Cardiovascular Events	Guideline Recommendations
Anti-platelet therapy	Antiplatelet therapy with aspirin (dose range 75 mg to 325 mg). Clopidogrel 75 mg daily. Vorapaxar is of uncertain utility in PAD. It reduced rates of acute limb ischemia and revascularization, but was associated with increased bleeding. Rivaroxaban 2.5 mg twice daily + low dose aspirin reduced cardiovascular event rates in people with stable atherosclerosis, including those with PAD.
Statin therapies	All people with PAD should be treated with statin therapy. Patients with PAD should be treated with potent statins.
Hypertension therapy	Patients with PAD and hypertension should have blood pressure treated as recommended by hypertensive guidelines. There is no definitive evidence that a particular class of anti-hypertensive drugs or strategy is more effective than others. However, ACE inhibitors may have advantages for patients with PAD.
Smoking cessation	PAD patients who smoke cigarettes should be advised to quit at every clinical visit. Patients with PAD who smoke cigarettes should be offered pharmacotherapy to assist with smoking cessation (including with varenicline, bupropion, and/or nicotine replacement therapy).

Abbreviations: ACE, angiotensin-converting enzyme; PAD, peripheral artery disease.