RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Evaluating the prognostic performance of bedside tests used for peripheral arterial disease diagnosis in the prediction of diabetic foot ulcer healing JF BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care JO BMJ Open Diab Res Care FD American Diabetes Association SP e003110 DO 10.1136/bmjdrc-2022-003110 VO 11 IS 2 A1 Hussein Elghazaly A1 Theodore Howard A1 Sharan Sanjay A1 Omer G Mohamed A1 Viknesh Sounderajah A1 Zaheer Mehar A1 Alun H Davies A1 Usman Jaffer A1 Pasha Normahani YR 2023 UL http://drc.bmj.com/content/11/2/e003110.abstract AB Introduction Diabetic foot ulceration (DFU) is a common and challenging complication of diabetes. Risk stratification can guide further management. We aim to evaluate the prognostic performance of bedside tests used for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) diagnosis to predict DFU healing.Research design and methods Testing for Arterial Disease in Diabetes (TrEAD) was a prospective observational study comparing the diagnostic performance of commonly used tests for PAD diagnosis. We performed a secondary analysis assessing whether these could predict DFU healing. Follow-up was performed prospectively for 12 months. The primary outcome was sensitivity for predicting ulcer healing. Secondary endpoints were specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios for ulcer healing.Results 123 of TrEAD participants with DFU were included. In 12 months, 52.8% of ulcers healed. The best negative diagnostic likelihood ratio (NDLR) was observed for the podiatry ankle duplex scan (PAD-scan) monophasic or biphasic with adverse features(NDLR 0.35, 95% CI 0.14–0.90). The highest positive likelihood ratios were observed for toe brachial pressure index of ≤0.2 (positive diagnostic likelihood ratio (PDLR) 7.67, 95% CI 0.91–64.84) and transcutaneous pressure of oxygen of ≤20 mm Hg (PDLR 2.68, 95% CI 0.54–13.25). Cox proportional hazards modeling demonstrated significantly greater probabilities of healing with triphasic waveforms (HR=2.54, 95% CI 1.23–5.3, p=0.012) and biphasic waveforms with non-adverse features (HR=13.67, 95% CI 4.78–39.1, p<0.001) on PAD-scan.Conclusions No single test performed well enough to be used in isolation as a prognostic marker for the prediction of DFU healing.Trial registration number NCT04058626.No data are available.