title: Feasibility of fitness tests in subjects with chronic pain (fibromyalgia): discordance between cycling and 2-km walking tests.
abstract: Altogether, 69 out of 98 fibromyalgia (FMS) patients who attended a 2-week multidisciplinary inpatient course and a 1-week control period 3 months later completed 2-km walking tests and stepwise-increased cycling tests at entry and after 3 months. The purpose was to compare the feasibility of the two fitness tests for assessment of FMS patients. The results showed a substantially lower fitness level in the results of the 2-km walking test than in the cycling test in the same patients: mean maximum VO2 was 28.5 ml/kg per min vs 34.6 ml/kg per min, respectively. At entry and after the 3-month training period, the correlations between the two tests were very poor, i.e., with Spearman's r coefficients of 0.37 and 0.34, respectively (P < 0.01), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) 0.20 (95% CI -0.29 to 0.50) and 0.47 (95% CI 0.15 to 0.67), reliability coefficients (alpha) 0.54 and 0.47, and Kendal-T coefficients 0.32 and 0.41 for ordinal correlation of the test results. The results did not correlate with pain, which remained at initial levels for the 3 months of follow-up. Principally, these tests should both measure the same property, i.e., the fitness of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients, but the results differed substantially. The 2-km walking test showed a markedly lower fitness level than the cycling test in the same patients. The primary explanation for this difference might be difficulties in controlling test performance. especially in walking. The 2-km walking test would not appear recommendable for subjects with chronic pain syndrome, e.g., fibromyalgia.
authors.affiliation: Chief Physician, Rehabilitation Centre of Tampere, Rehabilitation Institute of the Finnish Rheumatism Association, University Hospital. jorma.viitanen@tays.fi
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Viitanen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001642:Bicycling; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D059408:Pain Management; D016138:Walking