Multifactorial prevention and treatment may be particularly useful in people with peripheral arterial disease. PAD as manifested by intermittent claudication affects about 0.5 to 1.0 percent of individuals above age 35, with a twofold predominance in men. There is a strikingly increased incidence with age in both sexes, particularly in those above age 50. Mortality in patients with intermittent claudication has been shown to be six times higher than in other people of similar age and gender. The excess in mortality is primarily due to a ninefold increase in cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths. Those who have asymptomatic but measurable PAD (two to two-and-a-half times as many as have intermittent claudication), have relative risks of about 3 and 4 for total and CVD mortality, respectively. Therefore, interventions that prevent the development or progression of atherosclerotic disease or reduce arterial thrombosis should reduce mortality and morbidity due to myocardial infarction and stroke while favorably affecting the morbidity directly associated with PAD.