Decisive Steps Toward Patient-Reported Outcomes for Claudication—Tread Lightly or Full Steam Ahead?

In their article “Effectiveness of a Medical vs Revascularization Intervention for Intermittent Leg Claudication Based on Patient-Reported Outcomes” in this issue of JAMA Surgery, Devine and colleagues¹ embark on a challenging task in surgical outcomes assessment in their study comparing medical and invasive treatments for patients with claudication. What was the challenge? Their outcomes assessment focused not on target-lesion revascularization, ankle brachial index, or another easily measured but questionably important clinical outcome. Rather, they assessed quality of life for patients with claudication using 3 validated surveys that directly measure these patient-reported outcomes (PROs).