title: Feasibility and validity of self-reported walking capacity in patients with intermittent claudication.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The primary aim of this study was to assess if self-reported measures of walking limitation correlate better with a community-based assessment of maximum walking distance (MWD) than they do with laboratory-based tests in patients with intermittent claudication. A secondary aim was to examine the effect of prior objective testing on these correlations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-one patients completed three self-report tools (self-reported MWD; Walking Impairment Questionnaire [WIQ]; Estimation of Ambulatory Capacity by History-Questionnaire [EACH-Q]) immediately before and approximately 1 week after a series of objective tests (incremental treadmill walking test, 6-minute walk test, 1-hour global positioning system [GPS] recording of a community walk). We analyzed the feasibility of the self-report tools in terms of number of errors and their correlation (r) with objective measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The correlations of self-report tests to GPS-MWD (range, .579-.808) were consistently higher than with the treadmill test (range, .310-.584) and 6-minute walk test (range, .414-.613). The WIQ had the highest proportion of errors, both at first and second completion (58% and 42%, respectively), compared with self-reported MWD (23% and 13%, respectively) and the EACH-Q (6.5% and 13%, respectively). Correlations were improved with the second set of self-report tests (range, .310-.595 to .414-.808).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The fact that all self-report tools correlated better with a community-based measure of MWD using GPS than with laboratory results confirms that they measure what they aim to: community-based MWD. In addition, prescription of a community walk might help patients to better estimate their walking limitation.
authors: Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
authors: Garry
authors: G
authors: Tew
authors: Robert
authors: R
authors: Copeland
authors: Alexis
authors: A
authors: Le Faucheur
authors: Marie
authors: M
authors: Gernigon
authors: Shah
authors: S
authors: Nawaz
authors: Pierre
authors: P
authors: Abraham
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005080:Exercise Test; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D016138:Walking