Objective: To establish the validity of 2 objective measures of disability based on 2 self-reports in individuals with the late sequelae of poliomyelitis (LSP).
Design: Nonexperimental research design.
Setting: Regional ambulatory clinic specializing in the management of patients with LSP.
Participants: Seventeen community dwellers with LSP.
Intervention: Completion of 2 exercise tests: the 6-minute walk (6-MW) test and a steady-rate walking test to calculate the cardiorespiratory conditioning index (CRCI), and 2 health status questionnaires: the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP) and Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 (SF-36).
Main outcome measures: 6-MW distance and the CRCI, and scores from the physical dimensions of the SIP and the SF-36.
Results: The 6-MW distance correlated significantly with the physical dimension scores of both the SIP (r = -.57, p < .05) and the SF-36 (r = .67, p < .05). Significant correlations were also observed between the CRCI and the physical dimension scores of the SIP (r = -.51, p < .05) and the SF-36 (r = .70, p < .01). The 2 objective measures correlated significantly with each other (r = .51, p < .05) as did the 2 physical dimension scores of the SIP and the SF-36 (r = -.80, p < .01).
Conclusions: Although objective measures of disability corroborated self-reports of patients with LSP and, thus, supported their validity, each measure has a distinct role in clinical decision making.