Across the U.S., the drug overdose epidemic took the lives of more than 70,000 Americans last year and remains a highly visible killer. Meanwhile, infectious diseases such as measles, which was declared eradicated from the U.S. in 2000, are on the rise again—reaching a 27-year high in 2019.
These epidemics rightly receive a lot of attention from policymakers and the media, but there’s another epidemic plaguing our communities—especially our communities of color—that is too often overlooked: peripheral artery disease (PAD).
PAD is a dangerous and expensive complication of diabetes, which afflicts over 30 million Americans. If a patient does not manage their diabetes well, he or she is at serious risk of developing PAD, which causes plaque to build up in blood vessels and reduces blood flow to the legs. This puts patients at a dramatically higher risk of suffering a stroke, heart attack or limb amputation.