Validation of Veterans Specific Activity Questionnaire to assess exercise tolerance of Chinese elderly with coronary heart disease

Objective The Veterans Specific Activity Questionnaire (VSAQ) has been used to assess exercise tolerance. Nevertheless, there is no validated Chinese version. The aim of this study is to determine whether a questionnaire-based method using the Chinese version of VSAQ (the modified VSAQ) is a practical tool to assess exercise tolerance of Chinese elderly with coronary heart disease. Methods One hundred thirty consecutive elderly patients who were diagnosed with coronary heart disease (CHD) (mean age 68.9 +/- 6.0 years) referred for treadmill exercise testing (TET) for clinical reasons were included in the study. They were asked to complete a questionnaire for clinical characteristics information on age, sex, history, exercise habits, medications, the original VSAQ and the modified VSAQ. We investigated the relationship between exercise tolerance in metabolic equivalents (METs) estimated by VSAQ and that obtained by TET. Results The METs by the original VSAQ and the modified VSAQ did not difference significantly (P = 0.528). The modified VSAQ scores were significantly correlated with the METs obtained by TET (r = 0.819, 95% CI: 0.753-0.873, P < 0.01), and the scores of original VSAQ also correlated with the METs by TET (r = 0.804, 95% CI: 0.745-0.854, P < 0.01). The Bland-Altman graph analysis showed few values outside the limits of agreement, suggesting good precision between the METs estimated by questionnaire and the METs obtained by TET. Conclusions The Chinese version of the VSAQ confirmed its validity and equivalence to the original version, especially when evaluating individuals with coronary heart disease and older adults. The results showed that the VSAQ is a valuable tool to assess the exercise tolerance.