[The reliability of the ankle/arm index for the study of chronic arteriopathy of the lower limbs in primary care]. / Fiabilidad del índice tobillo/brazo para el estudio de la arteriopatía crónica de los miembros inferiores en atención primaria.

OBJECTIVE: To validate the "ankle/arm" index (AAI) or "Yao index" for the primary care assessment of chronic arteriopathy in the lower limbs (CALL). DESIGN: A descriptive crossover study. SETTING: Primary care. PATIENTS: 21 with suspected or diagnosed CALL. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Four primary-care doctors made 164 examinations by means of palpation and determination of blood pressure with Doppler waves. The presence or absence of pulses was recorded and the AAI calculated. The interobserver Kappa ranged from 0.20 to 0.47 and the intraobserver from 0.52 to 0.76, according to the pulse examined. The intraclass interobserver correlation coefficient for the AAI was 0.80 and the intraobserver 0.79. Interobserver SD for the AAI was 0.14, and intraobserver SD 0.15. CONCLUSIONS: The ankle-arm index obtained by primary-care doctors using Doppler is a reliable method of studying CALL. However, due to its wide variability, it is advisable always to evaluate its evolution together with clinical data.

[Functional capacity of patients over 65 according to the Katz index. Reliability of the method]. / Capacidad funcional de pacientes mayores de 65 años, según el índice de Katz. Fiabilidad del método.

OBJECTIVE: To find functional capacity of elderly patients by using the Katz Index, which measures the "Basic Activities of Daily Life". To examine how reliable the Katz Index is in the Primary Care field. DESIGN: Descriptive crossover study. Assessment of the measuring instrument's internal consistency and reliability, using a test-retest method. SITE. Otero Health Area, in Oviedo. PATIENTS OR OTHERS PARTICIPANTS: This was a random sample, ordered by age and gender, of people over 65 who used the Otero Health centre. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The elderly population made up 12.86% of our base Health Area. The Katz Index showed that 81.6% of the elderly in the sample were independent in all their functions. A significant age difference was found. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's Alpha and was 0.8612 for nurses and 0.8362 for doctors. The correlation coefficient within Sperman's estimated observer was r = 0.936074. Kappa was 0.8436 (p < 0.0000) for the different observers, i.e. nurses or doctors. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the elderly patients in our base Health area possess full functional capacity, at the level of the routine activities of their daily life. The Katz Index is a reliable method of evaluating elderly peoples' functional capacity, at the Primary Care level. It can be used by any professional in the health team.