Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is the third leading cause of atherosclerotic cardiovascular morbidity worldwide, with high prevalence and associated complications, and is often overlooked and undertreated. Research has shown that there is a profound lack of PAD-related knowledge and awareness; additionally, information sources are not often reliable and accessible. The objective of this scoping review was: (1) to identify and critically appraise instruments that measure patients' disease-related knowledge/awareness about PAD, and (2) to characterize the current state of knowledge/awareness levels among these patients.
Methods: This systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with the PRISMA statement. Six databases (APA PsycInfo, CINAHL Ultimate, Embase, Emcare Nursing, Medline ALL and Web of Science Core Collection) were searched, and search strategies were developed utilizing the PICO framework. Potential studies of any methodological design were considered for inclusion through a snowball hand search. Data from the included articles were extracted by a reviewer, and the extraction accuracy was independently cross-checked by another author.
Results: The initial database search yielded 9832 records, of which sixteen studies (thirteen quantitative and three qualitative) were included. Only three questionnaires had their psychometric properties assessed. Questionnaire items focused on the following topics: definition/characteristics, risk factors/causes, treatment, complications, and personal issues regarding the perception/management of the disease. Overall, knowledge/awareness about PAD was low among patients.
Conclusions: This study identified major gaps in PAD education, including the lack of availability of a validated measurement tool addressing all educational topics relevant to care and low knowledge/awareness of patients about their condition.
Keywords: awareness; knowledge; patient education as topic; peripheral artery disease; surveys and questionnaires.