Rural women often underestimate their health risks and symptoms, yet they may be at risk for cardiac disease. However, rural women are often not tested for functional capacity largely because they tend to present later in the disease process due to poor detection, poor utilization of healthcare services, or lack of provider knowledge resulting in poor outcomes and increased mortality combined with the geographical challenges of rural areas. Thus, having a validated and reliable tool for these women could immensely augment the capacity of rural providers to provide tailored care based on evidence-based research enabling appropriate decisions on testing, risk-stratification, and treatment evaluations. The purpose and scope was to describe the level of cardiac functional capacity using the Duke Activity Status Index (DASI) and exercise treadmill test (ETT) metabolic equivalents (METs) calculations in rural women in the Rocky Mountains to determine if the relationship of the DASI to METs is similar to that in published literature. The goal was to seek to describe the level of cardiac functional capacity using the DASI and ETT calculated METs rural women living in the Rocky Mountain West with the findings to close the gap of nursing knowledge about the need for tailoring healthcare for rural Rocky Mountain women with potential cardiac disease. The objectives were first, describe the sample cohort in terms of demographics, lifestyle, medical history, and current symptomology. Second, explore the relationships of the DASI METs to actual METs obtained in a cohort of rural Rocky Mountain women who underwent an ETT for evaluation of CVD. Third, discern whether altitude is relative to DASI METs and actual METs. Fourth, determine whether the hemodynamics of mean arterial pressure, pulse pressure, and/or heart rate recovery data impact the predictive value of DASI METs.
