On “Quality of life and self-reported lower extremity function…” Galantino ML, Kietrys DM, Parrott JS, et al. Phys Ther. doi: 10.2522/ptj.20130337.

[Editor's note: Both the letter to the editor by Stratford and Riddle and the response by Parrott and colleagues are commenting on the author manuscript version of the article that was published ahead of print on May 22, 2014.]

We read with great interest the study by Galantino et al¹ that investigated the quality of life and self-reported lower extremity function of adults who are HIV+ and either with or without distal sensory polyneuropathy (DSP). The Medical Outcomes Study HIV Health Survey (MOS-HIV) measure was used to assess quality of life²; the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS)³ and Lower Limb Functional Index (LLFI)⁴ were applied to assess lower extremity functional status. One of the study's purposes was to “evaluate agreement (concordant validity) between the LEFS and LLFI in this population.”¹ We were troubled by this attempted comparison for 2 reasons.

First, …