Walking performance can be predicted from quality of life questionnaire responses in patients with intermittent claudication

Introduction: Assessment of walking performance may not\ud always be possible in a clinical setting and therefore\ud walking and functional performance predictions from simple clinical measurements may be beneficial for individualised treatment. Therefore, the current study examined whether walking performance for peripheral vascular disease patients with intermittent claudication (IC) can be predicted from a disease specific quality of life questionnaire such as the Intermittent Claudication\ud Questionnaire (ICQ) and other simple clinical measurements.\ud \ud Methods: Patients with IC (n=87) completed the ICQ followed\ud by assessment of height, mass, gender, ankle-brachial\ud index (ABI) of both legs, and walking performance (pain free [PFWDJ and maximal walking distances [MWDJ) via an incremental graded treadmill protocol. Stepwise linear regression was conducted to generate regression equations to predict MWO', PFWO and maximal aerobic capacity (V02max) from the independent variables.\ud \ud Results: Significant regression equations were determined for: MWD based upon responses to questions 2, 3 and 6 of the ICQ, participant's height and their worst ABI (r=0.713, r2=0.508, standard error of estimate=i98 m, p<O.0001); PFWD based upon response to question 6 of the leo and participant's worst ABI (r=0.490, r2=0.240, standard error of estimate=161 m, p<0.0001); and V02max based upon responses to questions 6 and 9 of the ICQ and participant's height (r=0.494, r2=0.244, standard error of estimate=5.4 ml·kg·1.min·\ p