The Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire has been shown to be 91 percent specific and 99 percent sensitive for diagnosing intermittent claudication in symptomatic patients.
Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire
It is composed of a series of six questions and a pain diagram that are self-administered by the patient. A positive classification for peripheral vascular disease requires the indicated responses for all questions.
| Question | Response | Sensivity (%) | Specificity (%) |
| 1- Do you get pain or discomfort in your leg(s) when you walk? | Yes (If patient answers no, then stop here) | 99.3 | 13.1 |
| 2- Does this pain ever begin when you are standing still or sitting? | No | 99.3 | 80.3 |
| 3- Do you get pain if you walk uphill or hurry? | Yes | 98.8 | 13.1 |
| 4- Do you get pain if you walk at an ordinary pace on level ground? | Yes or no, dependent on severity of claudication | – | – |
| 5- What happens if you stand still? | Pain gone in 10 minutes or less | 90.6 | 63.9 |
| 6- Where do you get this pain? | Calf,* thigh, or buttock† marked | – | – |
*- Definite claudicant = pain in calf.
†- Atypical claudication = pain in thigh or buttock (in the absence of calf pain).
If these criteria are fulfilled, a definite claudicant is one who indicates pain in the calf, regardless of whether pain is also marked in other sites; a diagnosis of atypical claudication is made if pain is indicated in the thigh or buttock, in the absence of any calf pain. Subjects should not be considered to have claudication if pain is indicated in the hamstrings, feet, shins, joints or appears to radiate, in the absence of any pain in the calf.
References:
- Leng G, Fowkes F. The Edinburgh claudication questionnaire: an improved version of the WHO/Rose questionnaire for use in epidemiological surveys. J Clin Epidemiol 1992; 45: 1101-1109. [Medline]
- Sontheimer DL. Peripheral vascular disease: diagnosis and treatment. Am Fam Physician. 2006 Jun 1;73(11):1971-6. [Medline]
Created Jul 04, 2016
