Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an important risk factor for peripheral artery disease (PAD). Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) was found associated with a higher cardiovascular (CV) risk and mortality. The main goals of this study were to establish the prevalence of PAD in a T2DM population, and assess the relationship between PAD and the CV risk calculated with the CUORE Project score (CPS) (https://www.cuore.iss.it/). The association between the ABI, the main risk factors for PAD and T2DM complications was also investigated. Two hundred patients were consecutively enrolled. The prevalence of PAD in this population was 17%. The CV risk tended to be higher (p = 0.0712) in the group with a pathological ABI than in the group with a normal ABI. Glycated hemoglobin (r = -0.1591; p = 0.0244), total cholesterol (r = -0.1958; p = 0.0054), LDL cholesterol (r = -0.1708; p = 0.0156) and systolic blood pressure (r = -0.1523; p = 0.0313) correlated significantly and inversely with the left ABI. The frequency of diabetic retinopathy was significantly higher in the group with a pathological ABI (p = 0.0316). The data reveal a high prevalence of PAD in patients with T2DM. The CPS confirmed that patients with a pathological ABI have tendency to a higher CV risk. The results point to the importance of an accurate CV assessment - also measuring individuals' ABI and calculating their CPS - to better pinpoint those at high risk of PAD, especially among patients with T2DM.

Antenatal screening for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) does not always reflect intrapartum colonisation status, and rapid molecular point-of-care tests (POCT) have been developed to enable real-time detection during labour. This prospective single-centre study evaluated the performance of six molecular assays (easyNat, FlashDetect, GenDx, GenPad, iPonatic, Revogene) and one antigen-based test (TZcheck) for intrapartum GBS detection under real-world conditions. Vaginal–rectal swabs were collected at admission from 104 women at ≥ 37 weeks of gestation and tested directly without prior enrichment, using conventional intrapartum culture as the reference standard. Diagnostic performance varied substantially across platforms, with positive percent agreement ranging from 0.0% to 80.6%, while negative percent agreement was generally high, except for GenDx. Seven culture-positive samples yielded negative results across all molecular assays, while one sample was consistently positive across multiple molecular platforms despite negative culture. Exploratory observations suggest that differences in lysis procedures may contribute to variability in assay performance, although this could not be formally assessed. These findings highlight the variability of intrapartum molecular POCT under routine conditions and underscore the need for cautious clinical interpretation and local validation prior to implementation.