Can a nurse-led intervention program for people with peripheral arterial disease lead to sustained improvement in functional capacity and quality of life?

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is a manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis which causes significant morbidity and mortality affecting between 14% and 29% of individuals >70 years of age . Multiple studies have demonstrated an improvement in walking distance in people suffering from symptomatic PAD through exercise therapy. While most studies have examined the results of exercise and risk factor modification programs over a short-term this study sought to identify not only whether a nurse-led intervention program can improve functional capacity and quality of life, but if improvements could be sustained over a longer follow-up term. There were 56 participants recruited from the Vascular Surgery Outpatients department at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane. The nurse-led intervention program consisted of a 12-week supervised exercise program as well as a home walking prescription and fortnightly risk factor education sessions. A further 23 individuals who were unable to attend the intervention program due to geographical location agreed to complete quality of life-only follow-up and were given home exercise advice. As predicted, participants in the nurse-led intervention program (NLIP) group demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in both functional capacity (