title: Can the scoring of the walking estimated limitation calculated by history (WELCH) questionnaire be simultaneously simplified and improved?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The WELCH questionnaire includes 4 items (A, B, C and D) and estimates the maximal walking time (MWT) on treadmill in patients with claudication. Its scoring was empirically defined. We aimed to test various methods for scoring to estimate whether the scoring of the WELCH could be improved or simplified.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 423 patients, we tested 8 methods (from H1 to H8) of weighing D or calculating α, β and γ in the equation MWT = (αA + βB + γC) * D.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While the WELCH Pearson r was 0.639 and area under ROC curve for the ability to walk 5 minutes on treadmill was 0.795 for the reference empirical method, tested hypotheses resulted in values ranging 0.566 to 0.661 for the Pearson r values and 0.750 to 0.809 for the areas under ROC curve respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  None of the tested methods simultaneously improved the correlation to MWT, remained simple enough to be scored by mental calculation and ranged between intuitive minimal and maximal values. The original empirical scoring seems a good compromise between accuracy and simplicity.
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Clement
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bourdois
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Laporte
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Godet
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laneelle
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vielle
authors.affiliation: University Hospital, Angers, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abraham
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019540:Area Under Curve; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking
keywords: Methods; claudication; maximal walking capacity; quality of life; questionnaire