Superior Lower Extremity Vein Graft Bypass Patency among Married Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease

Background Outcome disparities associated with lower extremity bypass (LEB) for peripheral artery disease (PAD) have been identified but are poorly understood. Marital status may affect outcomes through factors related to health risk behaviors, adherence, and access to care but has not been characterized as a predictor of surgical outcomes and is often omitted from administrative data sets. We evaluated associations between marital status and vein graft patency following LEB using multivariable models adjusting for established risk factors. Methods Consecutive patients undergoing autogenous LEB for PAD were identified and analyzed. Survival analysis and Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate patency stratified by marital status (married versus single, divorced, or widow[er]) adjusting for demographic, comorbidity, and anatomic factors in multivariable models. Results Seventy-three participants who underwent 79 autogenous vein LEB had complete data and were analyzed. Forty-three patients (58.9%) were married, and 30 (41.1%) were unmarried. Compared with unmarried patients, married patients were older at the time of their bypass procedure (67.3 ± 10.8 years vs. 62.2 ± 10.6 years; P = 0.05). Married patients also had a lower prevalence of female gender (11.6% vs. 33.3%; P = 0.02). Diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and smoking were common among both married and unmarried patients. Minimum great saphenous vein conduit diameters were larger in married versus unmarried patients (2.82 ± 0.57 mm vs. 2.52 ± 0.65 mm; P = 0.04). Twenty-four-month primary patency was 66% for married versus 38% for unmarried patients. In a multivariable proportional hazards model adjusting for proximal and distal graft inflow/outflow, medications, gender, age, race, smoking, diabetes, and minimum vein graft diameter, married status was associated with superior primary patency (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.33; 95% confidence limits [0.11, 0.99]; P = 0.05); other predictive covariates included preoperative antiplatelet therapy (HR = 0.27; 95% confidence limits [0.10, 0.74]; P = 0.01) and diabetes (HR = 2.56; 95% confidence limits [0.93–7.04]; P = 0.07). Conclusions Marital status is associated with vein graft patency following LEB. Further investigation into the mechanistic explanation for improved patency among married patients may provide insight into social or behavioral factors influencing other disparities associated with LEB outcomes.