DASI Calculator (Duke Activity Status Index)

Hlatky and colleagues developed the Duke Activity Status Index in 1989. DASI is a 12-item scale in the form of a self-administered questionnaire. Clinicians mainly use it to evaluate patients with cardiovascular diseases, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or myocardial infarction.

The clinical use of the Duke Activity Status Index includes:

• Measuring functional capacity;
• Assessing aspects of quality of life;
• Estimating peak oxygen uptake;
• Evaluating the effect of medical treatments and/or cardiac rehabilitation; and
• Assisting clinical decisions.

If you are interested in predicting the risk of ischemia or infarction, check the Duke Treadmill Score calculator.

DASI is a 12-item questionnaire that assesses daily activities such as household tasks, personal care, and recreation. It also provides the respective metabolic cost; each of the items has a specific weight based on the metabolic cost of the task (MET).

💡 Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) — a unit that measures how much energy an activity consumes compared to being at rest. Find out more in our MET minutes calculator.

Patients self-report which activities they are able to do and each activity is scored as such:

The final score can range from 0 to 58.2 points, where the higher the score, the higher the patient's functional status.

After calculating the final DASI score, the VO₂ max and metabolic equivalent of task can be estimated as follows:

VO₂ max (mL/kg) = 0.43 × DASI + 9.6

METs = VO₂ max/ 3.5

In a study investigating the correlation of DASI scores with postoperative death or complications, a DASI score of 34 or less meant that a patient was at risk of:

• Myocardial injury;
• Myocardial infarction;
• Moderate-to-severe complications; and
• New disability in surgical patients.

Let's try to estimate the Duke Activity Status Index for an exemplary patient using this DASI calculator.

1. Our patient reports that he can perform most of the activities on the scale, except the most strenuous ones:

   • He can't run;

   • He can't perform heavy housework; and

   • He can't do strenuous sports.

2. We need to add the points for all activities that our patient can do:

   DASI score = 2.75 + 1.75 + 2.75 + 5.5 + 0 + 2.7 + 3.5 + 0 + 4.5 + 5.25 + 6 + 0

   DASI score = 34.7

3. Now we can estimate:

   a) peak VO₂:

   VO₂ max (mL/kg) = 0.43 × DASI + 9.6

   VO₂ max (mL/kg) = 0.43 × 34.7 + 9.6

   VO₂ max (mL/kg) = 14.921 + 9.6

   VO₂ max (mL/kg) = 24.5

   b) metabolic equivalents:

   METs = VO₂ max (mL/kg)/ 3.5

   METs = 24.5/ 3.5

   METs = 7