Validation of the Korean Version of the Walking Impairment Questionnaire in Patients With Peripheral Arterial Disease

Abstract

Intermittent claudication is the most common early symptom of peripheral arterial occlusive disease. Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) is a short, inexpensive, easy to complete questionnaire to assess intermittent claudication and can provide data of usual walking. WIQ has validated in many countries, but it needs to be validated for Korean people. The English version of WIQ was translated into Korean and was retranslated into English version, and then the back-translated version was reconciled by the original author. A total of 51 patients were enrolled and four patients were dropped out. The subjects received surgery (n = 13), intervention (n = 20), and medication (n = 14). The ankle-brachial index (ABI) and treadmill test were checked as a baseline and were tested 4 weeks after the baseline test for identification of reproducibility. Final follow-up test was performed at 12 weeks after the baseline test. Reproducibility was identified in all three groups (P < .05). Coefficient of correlation (r) of WIQ with ABI was 0.3651 (P = .0667), 0.3872 (P = .0136), and 0.3460 (P = .0713) in surgery, intervention, and medication, respectively. The r for early claudication distance was 0.4700 (P = .0154), 0.5843 (P < .0001), and 0.5413 (P = .0029), and the r for maximum walking distance was 0.4656 (P = .0190), 0.2468 (P = .1353) and 0.4419 (P = .0210) in surgery, intervention, and medication, respectively. When the surgery and intervention groups were account together in aggressive treatment, the r of WIQ with ABI, early claudication distance, and maximum walking distance was 0.3946 (P = .0010), 0.5499 (P < .0001), and 0.2884 (P = .0219), respectively. This version of the WIQ for Korean patients was valid and reproducible. These results suggest that our Korean version of the WIQ could be effective in assessing Korean patients with peripheral arterial disease.