Dr. JaBaris Swain, MD, MPH 

Medical Executive, Health Systems Integration 

Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine 

Presented By  

Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems 

Dr. JaBaris Swain, MD, MPH, shared the severity of peripheral artery disease with the audience at the Black Health Matters 2024 Health Summit & Expo Recap.  

He shared crucial information from Johnson & Johnson’s “Save Legs. Change Lives.™” initiative. The company has developed several materials aimed at educating and empowering the public so that they can fight peripheral artery disease in their homes and communities.  

Dr. Swain began by gauging the room’s knowledge of this less well-known illness and described how the same kind of plaque build-up that leads to heart attacks leads to peripheral artery disease.  

“Plaque can occur not only in your heart but it can also occur in the blood vessels that supply blood to the other parts of your body. When that occurs, PAD happens,” he said. “The plaque builds up and forms in the walls of the arteries that supply blood to your limbs.” 

Adverse healthcare outcomes associated with peripheral artery disease impact Black communities heavily.  

According to the Journal of Circulation Research, “Black Americans are disproportionately affected by this disease while they are also less likely to be diagnosed and promptly treated. The consequences of this disparity can be grim as Black Americans bear the burden of lower extremity amputation resulting from severe peripheral artery disease.”  

Dr. Swain listed the symptoms of peripheral artery disease, including “painful leg cramping, numbness, weakness and heaviness in your legs or feet, resting leg pain [and] cold feet.”  

“My goal today is to try to help you learn ways to minimize that risk,” he continued. 

“Treating it in time may protect you from serious conditions like amputation such as loss of your leg or foot heart attack or death from heart attack or stroke. Untreated peripheral artery disease can affect your daily living. You’ll struggle with simple daily tasks, even walking, and it can mean a loss of independence.”  

Dr. Swain instructed the audience about how to handle approaching inquiring about their risks of peripheral artery disease with their healthcare providers. He recommended attendees request that their blood pressure be tested at more than one point on their bodies to present a fuller picture of their health.  

“If there’s a concern, your doctor should take your blood pressure in your leg as well as your arm,” said the doctor before dismantling the assumption that the arm was the only way to evaluate blood pressure. “A lot of people like, well, wait, wait, I always get my blood pressure, check in my arm. But you can also get a pressure checked in your leg,” he explained.  

“And when we do, when we capture those numbers, we create a, you know, called ABI ankle-brachial index, and what that does is it gives us a number That will let us understand whether or not you have peripheral artery disease, or if you are at risk, or if you have diminished blood flow that requires further attention.”  

Here are three ways you can take action to address the reality of the risk of peripheral artery disease in your life.  

Take Action 

• Insist On A Full Physical  

Dr. Swain instructed attendees to require that their physicals include their full bottom halves including the legs and feet where signs of peripheral artery disease show up.  

“I want you to leave here remembering that anytime you see a health provider and they do a full physical, make sure you take your shoes off, take your socks off, and then have them examine your legs and your feet,” he said.  

• Educate Yourself On The Symptoms of Lack Thereof  

It is important to remember that a significant portion of those suffering from PAD “don’t have leg pain.” Don’t rule out the condition just because you are not experiencing pain. Talk to your doctor and find out if it is something you should be concerned about.  

• Inform Your Loved Ones  

Talk to your friends and family members about PAD. Explain the risk factors to them and make sure they know how to speak with their caregivers about the potential for it to show up in their lives. He showed clips from some of the Johnson & Johnson resources designed to educate the public on PAD.  

“We are committed to making sure that people of color and anyone who has lived within the margins of healthcare receives appropriate education to be able to advocate,” said Dr. Swain.  

The company is also using its Health Equity Assessment Tracker, also known as the (HEATMap), “to help identify U.S. counties experiencing racial health inequities to access care” like PAD treatments. Find out what interventions are available in your area.