title: The Walking Impairment Questionnaire stair-climbing score predicts mortality in men and women with peripheral arterial disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) measures self-reported walking distance, walking speed, and stair-climbing ability in men and women with lower extremity peripheral arterial disease (PAD). We determined whether poorer WIQ scores are associated with higher all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in individuals with and without PAD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified 1048 men and women with and without PAD from Chicago-area medical centers. Participants completed the WIQ at baseline and were monitored for a median of 4.5 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to relate baseline WIQ scores with death, adjusting for age, sex, race, the ankle-brachial index (ABI), comorbidities, and other covariates.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During follow-up, 461 participants (44.0%) died, including 158 deaths from CVD. PAD participants in the lowest baseline quartile of the WIQ stair-climbing scores had higher all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 1.70; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.66, P = .02) and higher CVD mortality (hazard ratio, 3.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-7.47, P = .01) compared with those with the highest baseline WIQ stair-climbing score. Among PAD participants, there were no significant associations of lower baseline WIQ distance or speed scores with rates of all-cause mortality (P = .20 and P = .07 for trend, respectively) or CVD mortality (P = .51 and P = .33 for trend, respectively). Among non-PAD participants there were no significant associations of lower baseline WIQ stair-climbing, distance, or speed score with rates of all-cause mortality (P = .94, P = .69, and P = .26, for trend, respectively) or CVD mortality (P = .28, P = .68, and P = .78, for trend, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among participants with PAD, lower WIQ stair-climbing scores are associated with higher all-cause and CVD mortality, independently of the ABI and other covariates.
authors.affiliation: Division of General Internal Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. atul-jain@md.northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Atul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.forename: Kiang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferrucci
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Criqui
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Jack M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guralnik
authors.forename: Huimin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Mary M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: McDermott
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D055109:Ankle Brachial Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002423:Cause of Death; D002641:Chicago; D015897:Comorbidity; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058729:Peripheral Arterial Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016138:Walking