title: Six-minute walk test in children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) for healthy Caucasian children and adolescents of a population-based sample from the age of 3 to 18 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and eighty boys and 248 girls completed a modified test, using a measuring wheel as incentive device.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Median 6MWD increased from the age of 3 to 11 years in boys and girls alike and increased further with increasing age in boys (from 667.3 m to 727.6 m), whereas it essentially plateaued in girls (655.8 m to 660.9 m). After adjusting for age, height (P = .001 in boys and P < .001 in girls) remained independently correlated with the 6MWD. In the best fitting and most efficient linear and quadratic regression models, the variables age and height explained about 49% of the variability of the 6MWD in boys and 50% in girls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This modified 6-minute walk test (6MWT) proved to be safe, easy to perform, and highly acceptable to children. It provides a simple and inexpensive means to measure functional exercise capacity in children, even of young age, and might be of value when conducting comparable studies.
authors: Department of Pediatrics, Clinical Division of Cardiology, Pulmology, Allergology, and Cystic Fibrosis, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria. ralf.geiger@i-med.ac.at
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Geiger
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Strasak
authors: Benedikt
authors: B
authors: Treml
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Gasser
authors: Axel
authors: A
authors: Kleinsasser
authors: Victoria
authors: V
authors: Fischer
authors: Harald
authors: H
authors: Geiger
authors: Alexander
authors: A
authors: Loeckinger
authors: Joerg I
authors: JI
authors: Stein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*