In patients with new or worsening peripheral artery disease (PAD) symptoms, PAD‐specific health status was identified to be independently linked with 5‐year survival, with the most recent assessment being most prognostic.

• In this study of patients with new or worsening PAD symptoms enrolled in the PORTRAIT Registry across 10 US sites from 2011 to 2015, the association of the Peripheral Artery Questionnaire (PAQ) with 5‐year all‐cause mortality was examined.

• Participants were 711 patients (mean age 68.8±9.6 years, 40.9% female, 72.7% white; mean PAQ 47.5±22.0 and 65.9±25.0 at baseline and 3‐month, respectively); of these, deaths of 141 (19.8%) occurred during a median follow‐up of 4.1 years.

• In unadjusted models, baseline (HR, 0.90 per‐10‐point increase), 3‐month (HR [95% CI], 0.87 [0.82–0.93]) and change in PAQ (HR [95% CI], 0.92 [0.85–0.99]) were each found to be related to mortality.

• Fully adjusted models including combination of scores demonstrated a stronger association of 3‐month PAQ with mortality compared to either baseline (3‐month HR [95% CI], 0.85 [0.78–0.92]) or change (3‐month HR [95% CI], 0.79 [0.72–0.87]).