Relationship between objective measures of peripheral arterial disease severity to self-reported quality of life in older adults with intermittent claudication

• Published in: Journal of vascular surgery 2005-04, Vol.41 (4), p.625-630
• Main Authors: Izquierdo-Porrera, Anna Maria, Gardner, Andrew W., Bradham, Douglas D., Montgomery, Polly S., Sorkin, John D., Powell, Claudia C., Katzel, Leslie I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Blood Pressure - physiology; Cardiology. Vascular system; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diseases of the peripheral vessels. Diseases of the vena cava. Miscellaneous; Exercise Test; Female; General and cellular metabolism. Vitamins; Health Status; Humans; Intermittent Claudication - physiopathology; Intermittent Claudication - psychology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Quality of Life; Severity of Illness Index; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Vascular surgery: aorta, extremities, vena cava. Surgery of the lymphatic vessels; Walking - physiology
• ISSN: 0741-5214; 1097-6809
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvs.2005.01.012

The aim of this study was to determine the relation between functional measures of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) severity with both disease-specific and generic self-reported health-related quality-of-life (HR-QOL) measures, as well as the relation between the two types of HR-QOL measures. This was a cross-sectional observation of participants from the community and primary care or vascular surgery clinics in an academic Veterans Administration medical center. Eighty patients with symptomatic Fontaine stage II PAD provided physiologic measures and self-response questionnaires. Objective measures included the ankle-brachial index (ABI), time to maximum claudication pain on a graded exercise test, and a 6-minute floor-walking distance. Self-reports included the Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ), a disease-specific HR-QOL measure and the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) Short-Form 36 (SF-36), a generic HR-QOL measure. Patients (mean age 70 ± 8 [± SD] and 85% men) exhibited moderate-to-severe PAD by objective measures of ABI (0.65 ± 0.19) and time in minutes to maximal claudication on a graded exercise test (7:54 ± 4:58). Significant correlations were found between these measures and the WIQ distance, MOS-Physical Function, and MOS-Role Limitations due to physical dysfunction. The SF-36 and the WIQ subscales were significantly correlated. In older PAD patients with intermittent claudication, objective measures of disease severity are correlated with a self-reported, disease-specific and generic HR-QOL.