A Spanish translation of the Walking Impairment Questionnaire was validated for patients with peripheral arterial disease

OBJECTIVES: Walking impairment is a common manifestation of peripheral arterial disease (PAD). In this study we present evidence for the validity of our Spanish translation of the Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ). METHODS: The WIQ was translated into Spanish by our team of researchers. Spanish-speaking patients in the Houston, TX, area completed Spanish versions of the WIQ and the SF-36. Evidence for convergent and discriminant validity of the WIQ was obtained from correlations between the WIQ and other measures. Spanish or English as the primary language defined language-speaking status. RESULTS: Among 403 patients, convergent validity evidence was strong for both English- and Spanish-speaking patients. For patients with PAD, the correlation between walking distance and physical functioning was 0.55 (P < .01) for English-speaking patients and 0.85 (P < .01) for Spanish-speaking patients. The correlations of walking impairment with emotional health measures ranged from 0.26 to 0.44 for English-speaking patients (P < .01) and from 0.34 to 0.78 for Spanish-speaking patients. CONCLUSIONS: The WIQ scores correlated well with SF-36 components for both English- and Spanish-speaking patients. Our findings suggested that our translation process did not limit our ability to capture good-quality data. Further research is needed to determine what specific items in the WIQ or the SF-36 questionnaire warrant restructuring to increase their validity for use in diverse populations.