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Introduction: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an important complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), significantly associated with increased morbidity and mortality secondary to amputations, strokes and coronary artery disease. Information on DM patients with PAD is limited in our ethnically diverse population in Singapore. We aimed to determine the prevalence, risk factors and co-morbidities of PAD in patients managed for DM in the primary care setting., Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 521 diabetics in 9 of the 18 government-aided clinics in the community. Data including demographics, presence of co-morbidities and vascular risk factors were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, and Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) was calculated from systolic ankle and brachial pressure measurements., Results: The prevalence of PAD, defi ned as resting ABI of <0.9 on either leg and/or a history of gangrene or non-traumatic amputation was 15.2% [95% confidence interval (CI), 12.3-18.5]. This prevalence of PAD was higher in patients with pre-existing microvascular and other macrovascular complications. In multivariate analysis, prevalence of PAD was positively associated with increasing age (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.05-1.12), Malay versus Chinese ethnicity (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 1.09-4.70), low HDL-cholesterol (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.04- 3.37), and insulin treatment (OR, 2.98; 95%CI, 1.39-6.36)., Conclusion: PAD is an important cause of concern among patients with diabetes, with a high prevalence which further increases with increasing age and duration of DM, and exhibits ethnic variation. Risk factors identified in this study may improve early identification of PAD, allowing for prompt interventions, with a potential to reduce long-term morbidity and mortality.

Objectives: To describe the epidemiology of pterygium among residents of an island in Indonesia and to examine the roles of age and gender as determinants of bilaterality and severity of the disease., Methods: Voluntary eye screening on Pulau Jaloh, Riau Archipelago, Indonesia. Gender difference was tested using the chi2 test. The difference in age between subjects with and without disease was tested using unpaired Student's t-test. Odds ratio (relative risk) for gender was calculated using logistic regression model with adjustment for age., Results: Of the 550 inhabitants, 477 (86.7%) responded to the eye screening. The overall prevalence rate of pterygium was 17.0%. Out of 211, 48 male (22.7%) and 33 out of 266 female subjects (12.4%) had the disorder, with the gender difference being statistically significant. Adjusted for age, the risk of disease was 3.1-fold higher among the males. In all, 71.6% of subjects with pterygium had bilateral disease. Subjects with pterygium were significantly older, their mean age being 42.9 years compared to 18.7 years among those without disease. The prevalence rates in male subjects increased from age 20 to reach a plateau of 63.6% at age 35 and remained stable thereafter. In the female subjects, the rates also increased with age, albeit at a slower rate, from age 20 to reach a plateau of 46.7% at age 55 and remained stable thereafter., Conclusions: There is a high prevalence rate of pterygium among the study subjects, with the rates increasing rapidly with age.