Long-term reliability of the incremental shuttle walking test in clinically stable cardiovascular disease patients.
OBJECTIVE
The incremental shuttle walking test (ISWT) is a valuable tool for assessing changes in patients' functional capacity during cardiac rehabilitation. However, studies have only assessed its test-retest reliability in the short term. The purpose of this study was to examine long-term test-retest reliability of the ISWT in clinically stable cardiac patients.


METHODS
Test-retest reliability assessment.


METHODS
Continuous, community-based phase IV cardiac rehabilitation centre.


METHODS
Thirty patients with cardiovascular disease (15 males, 15 females; age 55 to 80 years) volunteered to participate in the study.


METHODS
Participants undertook two ISWTs, a minimum of 8 weeks apart.


METHODS
ISWT performance in metres.


RESULTS
Overall, the mean distance walked in the pre-test was 502+/-161m and this did not differ from test to retest. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.80, indicating good test-retest reliability. Using the Bland and Altman method, there was a small mean test-retest difference (-7m). The 95% limits of agreement were large, ranging from -203m to 189m.


CONCLUSIONS
Over long test-retest durations, there appears to be no learning effect in the ISWT, negating the need for a practice walk. The long-term random variation in the ISWT test is larger than in previous studies, probably due to greater physiological and psychological variation in the participants over 8 weeks compared with that seen in day-to-day testing. Factors influencing long-term test-retest reliability of the ISWT require further elucidation.
Pepera
Garyfallia
G
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK. gpeper@essex.ac.uk
McAllister
Joanne
J
Sandercock
Gavin
G
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000072038:Cardiac Rehabilitation; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers; D016138:Walking