Improving conservative management of intermittent claudication

Peripheral arterial vascular disease (PAVD) is a frequently occurring problem. In the Netherlands, 1 in 5 people aged 55 years and older suffer from this disorder. Charcot’s syndrome, commonly known as intermittent claudication (IC), is the first symptom of PAVD. Treatment of IC consists of supervised walking therapy (SWT), an invasive vascular intervention only being indicated if SWT does not have the desired results (from the patient’s perspective). However, not all patients are offered SWT in the Netherlands. Although there are many reasons for this, SWT not being covered by basic healthcare insurance is a key factor. Due to SWT not being fully covered, patients suffering from IC are exposed to an unnecessary risk of complications and death associated with much more expensive invasive treatment. Another important factor is a comparison between these treatments being difficult to be made due to a lack of good outcome measures. This thesis provides a first step towards a new outcome measure for the treatment of IC.