Authors (including presenting author) :
Yam TF(1), Choi CM(1), Tsang HC(1), Chui TK(1), Vong YP(1), To YL(1), Sun TF(2)
Affiliation :
(1)Physiotherapy Department, (2) Hospital Chief Executive Office, North District Hospital
Introduction :
6-minute walk test (6MWT) is one of the widely used assessment tools to examine exercise tolerance of patients with cardiopulmonary problems e.g. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In order to enhance our understanding of the local population and the interpretation of the 6MWT results in patients with COPD, a set of reference values of 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) for the local population is warranted.
Objectives :
To establish the local reference values of the 6MWT in patients with COPD
Methodology :
Data of 322 patients with COPD living in the North District were retrieved. Data obtained included demographic characteristics e.g. gender, age, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages and 6MWD. Descriptive statistics of the above data were recorded.
Result & Outcome :
The subjects pool consists of 261 males and 62 females. Their 6MWDs were classified in different age groups, aged 61-65 (n=65), 66-70 (n=80), 71-75 (n=58), 76-80 (n=52), 81-85 (n=42), 86 or above (n=25) and GOLD stages 1 (n=23), 2 (n=114), 3 (n=116), 4 (n=69). The mean 6MWD according to GOLD stages 1 to 4 were 322m, 298m, 260m and 226m respectively. The 6MWD decreased as the severity of COPD increased. The mean 6MWD among different age groups were 280m (age 61-65), 298m (age 66-70), 269m (age 71-75), 257m (age 76-80), 257m (age 81-85) and 215m (age 86 or above) respectively. The 6MWD decreased with increasing age except for the second youngest group. The present study provided a general picture of 6MWD among the local population. Future study of larger sample size, taking into account of the subjects’ comorbidities and Body Mass Index (BMI) could be considered so that a more reliable norms of 6MWD for both healthy and COPD subjects in the local community could be generated.
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