title: Factors associated with the 6-minute walk test in nursing home residents and community-dwelling older adults.
abstract: [Purpose] The main objective of this study was to determine the contributions and extent to which certain physical measurements explain performance in the 6-minute walk test in healthy older adults living in a geriatric nursing home and for older adults dwelling in the community. [Subjects] The subjects were 122 adults aged 65 and older with no cognitive impairment who were independent in their daily activities. [Methods] The 6-minute walk test, age, body mass index, walking speed, chair stand test, Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up-and-Go test, rectus femoris cross-sectional area, Short Physical Performance Battery, and hand-grip strength were examined. [Results] Strong significant associations were found between mobility, lower-limb function, balance, and the 6-minute walk test. A stepwise multiple regression on the entire sample showed that lower-limb function was a significant and independent predictor for the 6-minute walk test. Additionally, lower-limb function was a strong predictor for the 6-minute walk test in our nursing home group, whereas mobility was found to be the best predictor in our community-dwelling group. [Conclusion] Better lower-limb function, balance, and mobility result in a higher distance covered by healthy older adults. Lower-limb function and mobility appeared to best determine walking performance in the nursing home and community-dwelling groups, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, University Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Spain.
authors.forename: Vicent Benavent
authors.initials: VB
authors.lastname: Caballer
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, University Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan Francisco
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lisón
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, University Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rosado-Calatayud
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, University Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Amer-Cuenca
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, University Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Segura-Orti
keywords: 6-minute walk test; Older adults; Physical performance