Failure of Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease to Accept the Recommended Treatment Results in Worse Outcomes

Mean cQOL improved most with direct revascularization, especially when the treatment received matched that predicted by the models or proposed by the surgeon. Type of treatment received was an independent predictor of agreement of treatment with recommendations. Patient refusal to follow the recommended treatment as well as the strategy not to revascularize claudicants who persist in smoking were associated with much less patient benefit from treatment.