Aging reduces the accuracy of self-reported walking limitation in patients with vascular-type claudication

International audience; BACKGROUND: The published correlations between treadmill performance and the Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) score are generally fair. We hypothesized that the slope of the relationship of maximal treadmill walking time to WIQ would be lower in older than in younger patients, resulting in (1) a fair correlation in the population considered as a whole and (2) different cutoff points of the WIQ score to predict the ability to complete 5 minutes of treadmill walking in different age groups. METHODS: A 9-month prospective study was performed among patients referred for vascular-type claudication. Patients were divided into three age groups by years: 70 (group 3, n = 77). Patients self-completed the WIQ, which was corrected with a nurse, if necessary, and then completed a treadmill test. We calculated the correlation coefficient and slope of the relationship between the WIQ and maximal treadmill walking time. We used receiver operating characteristics curve analysis to estimate the accuracy of the WIQ score to determine the ability of the patients to complete 5 minutes of treadmill walking. RESULTS: Differences in slopes were significant between groups 1 vs 2 (P = .02), 2 vs 3 (P < .002), and 1 vs 3 (P < .001). The R(2) for the regression lines also tended to decrease but was only significant between two extremes (1 vs 2, P = .11; 2 vs 3, P = .07; 1 vs 3, P < .001). In patients aged