Predictors of health-related quality of life in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease

Physical and mental subscales of HRQoL in symptomatic patients with PAD are primarily predicted by patient-based physical function rather than by more specific markers of PAD severity and comorbid conditions. The clinical significance is that interventions designed to improve HRQoL should focus on improving the quality of executing functional tasks, such as walking more steadily without stumbling; completing ADLs that are not specific to walking, such as bathing and transferring; and improving patient-based ability to walk various distances and speeds and to climb stairs.