Duke Activity Status Index for Cardiovascular Diseases: Validation of the Portuguese Translation

Background

The Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) assesses the functional capacity ofpatients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), but there is no Portugueseversion validated for CVD.

Objectives

To translate and adapt cross-culturally the DASI for the Portuguese-Brazillanguage, and to verify its psychometric properties in the assessment offunctional capacity of patients with CVD.

Methods

The DASI was translated into Portuguese, then checked by back-translationinto English and evaluated by an expert committee. The pre-test version wasfirst evaluated in 30 subjects. The psychometric properties and correlationwith exercise testing was performed in a second group of 67 subjects. Anexploratory factor analyses was performed in all 97 subjects to verify theconstruct validity of the DASI.

Results

The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.87and for the inter-rater reliability was 0.84. Cronbach''s α for internalconsistency was 0.93. The concurrent validity was verified by significantpositive correlations of DASI scores with the VO₂max (r = 0.51, p< 0.001). The factor analysis yielded two factors, which explained 54% ofthe total variance, with factor 1 accounting for 40% of the variance.Application of the DASI required between one and three and a half minutesper patient.

Conclusions

The Brazilian version of the DASI appears to be a valid, reliable, fast andeasy to administer tool to assess functional capacity among patients withCVD.