Chronic Venous Disease, Mobility, and Leg Pain

Purpose: This study explored the relations among balance, gait, and walk speed as a walking mobility construct and tested a model of injection-related venous disease.

Methodology: The study used a three-drug group, cross-sectional, comparative design with stratification (age, gender, and ethnicity). Participants, obtained from drug treatment centers, completed questionnaires, had their legs assessed for venous disease and performed Tinetti Balance and Gait testing and walk speed testing.

Statistics: Simple frequencies described the participants. The relationship between CVD, leg pain and our Walking Mobility construct was examined using correlations and structural equation modeling.

Results: Participants (N=713) were men (46.9%) and women; their mean age = 46.26 years; 61.7% who were African-American. Balance score indicated 27.7% of participants had a risk of falls. Walk speed was very slow. Participants (92.3%) had clinical changes associated with CVD. The structural equation model pathway from injection site to CVD was significant (.40), supporting the causal link between leg injection and CVD. The path from Walking Mobility to CVD was significant, -.21; the worse the mobility, the greater the CVD classification. The indirect path from CVD to Walking Mobility was significant through Leg Pain, indicating that CVD has an indirect effect on leg function through pain. The standardized path coefficients linking the Walking Mobility factor to Balance (.80), Gait (.73) and walk speed (.58) were significant; thus, each variable contributes to defining the construct.

Conclusion: We found good evidence for a walking mobility constructs that included the Tinetti Balance and Gait scores and walk speed. As the drug use population ages, gait, balance and walk speed are important considerations so as to encourage activity and prevent falls and their sequel.