Field tests of exercise in COPD: the six-minute walk test and the shuttle walk test.
Exercise testing is useful to assess the degree of disability, prognosis for survival, presence of exercise-induced hypoxemia, and response to treatment in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Simple walking tests have been developed and are increasingly used in assessment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients for clinical and research purposes. This article reviews how these tests are performed and to what degree they are reliable, and how these tests are used in assessment of individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Brown
Cynthia D
CD
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA. rwise@jhmi.edu
Wise
Robert A
RA
D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016138:Walking