6 Minute Walk Test Report

2.4 Six minute walking test:
Six minute walk test was developed in 1963 by Balke to evaluate functional capacity. Different variations of the timed walk have been tested, and the six minute timed walk was recommended given its reproducibility and ease of administration compared to longer timed tests. A functional test might be a more valuable tool& cost effective (Nixon et al., 1992) for measuring cardio respiratory fitness in the population and detecting change in cardio respiratory fitness. One of the first functional or field test measures described was a 12minute run (Cooper et al., 1968) in which the Vo2max from a treadmill test was compared to the run data of 11 5 healthy US Air Force male officers and airmen. A high correlation (0.897)
(Price et al., 1988) reported on the use of a 6-minute walking test of aerobic fitness for people with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). One maximal exercise capacity test and one 6-minute walking test were administered before and after a 12-week exercise program. It was found that the 6-minute walk test was sensitive to fitness changes and provided a valid method for assessing relative cardio respiratory fitness in people with arthritis (Troosters et al., 1999; Harada et al., 1999) as well as people with rheumatologic conditions such as knee or hip osteoarthritis. The 6MWT is more reliable, valid and highly reproducible in patients with symptoms of HF. It is the first report, on a large number of patients with HF, on the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the 6MWT. This simple tool is highly reliable when performed twice within a 5-day period: (Demers et al, 2001). Test-retest reliability (Focht et al., 2005; Marmon et al.,2012;) has been reported as high, with an ICC of 0.90 at baseline, 0.88 at 18 weeks, and 0.91 at 43 weeks in a cohort of patients with heart failure. A positive correlation existed (r=0.624, n=94) between the 6MWT distance and the SF-36 physical function scale indicating as walk distance increased, physical function increased (Demers et al., 2001). Obese healthy subjects walked a significantly longer distance in 6-MWT than obese patients with knee OA. These findings suggest that knee OA may also play a role in ambulatory capacity in obese subjects (Sutbeyaz, 2007). In addition, researchers found significant negative correlation between 6-MWT and WOMAC pain, and function and physical functioning, bodily pain, general health, and vitality items of SF-36. In contrast to previous studies, there was no correlation between VO2 and 6-MWT distance. Knee OA reduces exercise and ambulatory capacity and impairs QOL in obese individuals. RPE, WOMAC