Aim: Owing to a lack of disease-specific measuring instruments, no systematic investigations of the impairment of the quality of life in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) have so far been possible. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to develop an appropriate questionnaire and to submit it to a psychometric test in a sufficiently large number of patients.
Patients and method: A disease-specific questionnaire comprising 86 individual items was developed (PAVK 86) and was tested in a longitudinal study involving 308 patients with confirmed peripheral arterial occlusive disease, Fontaines's stages I to IV. At the same time, three established generic questionnaires were also employed (SF 36, NHP, Every Day Life).
Results: Analysis showed that, in comparison with a normal population, the quality of life in patients with PAOD is considerably impaired, in particular by pain, anxiety, general complaints and reduced physical mobility and performance, and is comparable with that of patients suffering from renal carcinoma. In Fontaine's stage III and IV, the quality of life is significantly more greatly impaired than in patients with stage II disease. No differences in quality of life were to be found between Fontaine's stages III and IV. The psychometric test revealed that the PAVK 86 questionnaire is a sensitive, reliable, valid and practicable measuring instrument.
Conclusion: The PAVK 86 questionnaire is suitable for determining the course and outcome of therapeutic measures on the quality of life of PAOD patients, and can therefore be included in clinical studies. In addition, its use in combination with established generic questionnaires also permits a comparison with age-matched healthy control groups, and is thus also of importance for the assessment of aspects of health economics.