Assessing health-related quality of life among patients with peripheral artery disease: A review of the literature and focus on patient-reported outcome measures

Abstract

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a progressive atherosclerotic disease associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Symptomatic PAD typically presents with claudication, and symptom severity strongly associates with reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Existing treatment strategies for PAD are aimed at reducing symptom severity and improving functional outcomes. However, there is a need to incorporate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) into PAD treatment and research in order to provide more patient-centered care. This review will discuss the impact of PAD on HRQoL, existing PROMs available to assess PAD-related HRQoL, utilization of PROMs in research studies and registries, and challenges and solutions related to the integration of PROMs into research and clinical settings.

Impact of walk advice alone or in combination with supervised or home-based structured exercise on patient-reported physical function and generic and disease-specific health related quality of life in patients with intermittent claudication, a secondary analysis in a randomized clinical trial

“…While the observed effect sizes were generally small to moderate, these exploratory findings might still be related to important treatment differentials that were not evident when assessed by objective walking tests such as maximal- and pain-free walking distance as reported in the primary analysis of the SUNFIT trial [ 12 ]. By integrating PROMs in clinical trials, a better understanding of patient- and treatment-related factors associated with improved or deteriorated health status over time can be achieved [ 29 ]. Therefore, our findings may provide an example of the importance of integrating PROMs alongside objective endpoints in clinical trials.…”

A Systematic Review of Exercise Prescription in Patients with Intermittent Claudication: Does Pain Matter?

“…IC is strongly associated with reduced QoL, 33 however only one study 21 in this review investigated the impact on QoL as a consequence of exercise prescribed at different pain thresholds. Exercise prescribed to moderate claudication pain led to improvements in the physical component summary of the SF-36, and several single domains including physical functioning and bodily pain, whilst pain-free exercise led to improvements in the single domains of role physical and bodily pain.…”

Evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of an exercise and behaviour change intervention in socioeconomically deprived patients with peripheral arterial disease: The textpad study protocol

“…The main symptom of PAD is intermittent claudication, characterized by pain, cramp, or burning that occurs in the lower limbs during walking exercise and is relieved by rest [2]. Due to these symptoms, patients with PAD experience lower physical function [3], impaired cardiovascular function [4,5] and lower quality of life [6]. Based on evidence demonstrating the benefits of exercise on walking capacity [7], cardiovascular function [5,8] and quality of life [7], supervised exercise training is recommended in the United Kingdom by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence as first-line treatment of claudication caused by PAD [9].…”