Correlation of Six-Minute Walking Performance with Quality of Life is Domain- and Gender-Specific in Healthy Older Adults

Abstract

We analyzed the relationship between performance on the 6-min walk test (6MWT) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older subjects. Our secondary aim was to determine the distance to be completed on the 6MWT for the subject to achieve a score of 50 on the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36). Associations were tested using linear correlation and multivariate linear regression. Participants were 130 healthy older individuals. The predictive performance of the 6MWT based on an SF-36 score of 50 was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic curve and its area under curve (AUC). Associations were observed between physical functioning, role-emotional, social functioning, vitality, general health score, and 6MWT performance in women, after adjusting for confounding variables (coefficients: 0.57, 0.38, 0.40, and 0.46, respectively; p < 0.05). No association was found for men. The distance for the 6MWT to predict an SF-36 score of 50 was 481 m for men in the physical functioning (AUC: 0.79) and role-physical (AUC: 0.84) domains, and 420 m for women in role-emotional (AUC: 0.75), role-physical (AUC: 0.80), and general health (AUC: 0.80) domains. Our results indicate that superior 6MWT performance may be associated with better HRQoL in several domains in only healthy older women. No association between 6MWT performance and role-emotional, mental health, or vitality domains was found. We suggest that a score of 50 is represented by a 6MWT distance of 481 m for men and 420 m for women, at least in the role-physical domain.

Association of Muscle Strength and Walking Performance in Adult Patients With Pompe Disease

“…16 Observed muscle strength values overlapped considerably between the consecutive walking categories, indicating that other patient characteristics, such as sex and BMI, may affect walking performance also. 14,15,17 Concerted contraction of muscle groups as a compensation for weakness may play a role as well. 16 To compensate for weak quadriceps muscles, a hip extensor might be included for knee extensor strategy, ie, using the 2 joint characteristics of the hamstring muscle to move the knee toward extension.…”

A study on nonlinear estimation of submaximal effort tolerance based on the generalized MET concept and the 6MWT in pulmonary rehabilitation

“…Applications of the simple, affordable and reproducible 6MWT have been presented in such a plethora of publications that any collection of references could by no means be considered complete. We recall a selected series of recent 6MWT-related contributions covering various medical fields [ 26 – 33 ], in addition to pulmonary rehabilitation highlights [ 15 , 16 , 21 , 34 – 37 ]. It is striking that in the overwhelming majority of those publications the linear regression tools were employed and linearized models have been used, resulting in rather high standard deviations of the involved random variables.…”

Does the 6-minute walk test in hospitalized COPD patients exclusively correlate with lung function parameters or should psychological factors also be taken into account?

“…Therefore, a limitation of their study was that no robust conclusions on the influence of psychological factors on 6-minute walking distance could be drawn. Another study with healthy volunteers showed correlations between the 6-minute walking distance and the psychological component of quality of life [29].…”