Conclusions. Patients with PAD who have intermittent
claudication have a very reduced treadmill
exercise performance that is associated with
severe limitations in physical functioning and
ambulatory activity in the community. A 24-
week, supervised treadmill training program improves
peak treadmill exercise performance, but this
laboratory measure alone may not reflect any
changes in functional status during daily activities.
The results of this study confirm that the increase
in treadmill exercise performance with treadmill
training is also reflected in improvements in
physical functioning. Although all trained patients
did not achieve the expected level of function
of healthy aged-matched persons, even small improvements
in function may have practical relevance.