Six-minute walking test done in a hallway or on a treadmill: how close do the two methods agree?
BACKGROUND
The 6-min walking test (6-MWT) is probably the most widely used test to measure the functional capacity in cardiac rehabilitation. Although the American Thoracic Society recommends testing on a flat surface, treadmills are also used for testing. Therefore, we want to investigate the interchangeability of results of treadmill and hallway 6-MWT in a population of patients participating in a cardiac rehabilitation programme.


METHODS
Preexperimental design.


METHODS
University hospital Department of Cardiology and Physiotherapy.


METHODS
Patients entering the cardiac rehabilitation programme of the Maastricht University Cardiology Department.


METHODS
Agreement in 6-min walking distance between the hallway and treadmill test results were calculated by taking the mean difference between the two methods and the 95% confidence interval of the difference and plotting this against the average of the two test results. A Bland and Altman plot was constructed, showing the mean difference and the 95% limits of agreement between the two methods.


RESULTS
Sixty-nine patients participated in this study. Mean difference between walking on a treadmill and walking in a hallway was 9 m in favour of the hallway test. The 95% limits of agreement were±118 m.


CONCLUSIONS
Results of the 6-MWT conducted in a hallway or on a treadmill are not interchangeable, because of large between-test variations in the distances walked by individual participants.
Lenssen
Antoine F
AF
Department of Physiotherapy, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Wijnen
Lambert C A M
LC
Vankan
Dion G
DG
Van Eck
Bart H
BH
Berghmans
Danielle P
DP
Roox
George M
GM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005080:Exercise Test; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D016138:Walking