Heffron SP, Dwivedi A, Rockman CB, et al. - By performing this very large population-based study, the researchers intended to define the link between peripheral artery disease (PAD) and BMI. They asked self-referred people at > 20,000 US sites to complete medical questionnaires including height and weight. These people were assessed by screening ankle brachial indices (ABI) for PAD (ABI < 0.9). The study sample comprised 3,250,350 people with a mean age of 63.1 ± 10.5 years and 65.5% were women. The mean BMI was 27.7 ± 5.8 kg/m². Obesity was present in 27.8% of participants, including 27.6% females, 28.1% males. The lowest prevalence of PAD was noted in overweight people (BMI 25–29.9 kg/m²). A J-shaped link of BMI with prevalent PAD was identified. Underweight was found to be related to similarly increased odds of PAD, following adjustment for age and cardiovascular risk factors. Only in females, increasing BMI was identified as a robust independent risk factor for PAD.