Categorization of patients with peripheral artery disease by Charlson Comorbidity Index

BACKGROUND: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is the third leading cause of atherosclerotic morbidity. The influence of comorbidity burden on the prognosis of PAD patients is still underestimated. The Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) is an established tool for evaluating patients' comorbidity burden. METHODS: We used the German nationwide inpatient statistics including all hospitalizations of patients admitted due to PAD in Germany 2005-2022 and categorized according CCI classes (mild: CCI=1-2points, moderate: CCI=3-4points, high severity: CCI>4points). RESULTS: Overall, 3,167,987 hospitalizations of PAD patients were included in our study. Of these, 10.3% were categorized as mild, 34.3% as moderate and 55.4% as high-severity CCI class. Comorbidity burden and particularly frequency of high-severity CCI class increased from 51.2% (2006) to 58.5% (2022).An increase in the CCI class was associated with increased likelihood of being treated endovascularly (OR 1.48, 95%CI 1.48-1.49, P