The Six-Minutes Walking Test (6MWT) in healthy Turkish children and its comparative review

Abstract

Having data about its own subjective condition is important for each country. The aim of this study was to establish the values for six-minutes walking test (6MWT) among healthy children. The study population included 732 children (342 girls and 390 boys) aged 7-14 from 3 different regions in the city center. Their height and weight were measured and a sixminutes walking test was performed to the children. Mann-Whitney U test for gender and walking distance; Pearson correlation test for the relationship between height, weight and age; Kruskal-Wallis analysis methods for walking distance of the age groups were used. The six-minutes walking (6MWT) distance of the children ages 7-14 was 684.20 ± 109.31 m in total. There was significantly positive relation in medium level between children's age and the 6MWT distance. There was a significantly positive relation in medium level between children's height and the 6-MWT distance. There was also a significantly positive relation in low level between children's weight and the 6-MWT distance. A statistically significant difference between the 6-MWT distance according to children's gender was observed. Finally there was a significant difference between 6-MW distance according to the children's age groups.

A Longitudinal Study of Changes Observed in the 6-Min Walk Test Over a 4-Month Period in Healthy 6 to 12-Year-Old Children

“…Although 4 months might seem like a short period, a motor development maturation stage occurs in young children [33] that can positively affect their walking patterns by increasing the ability to walk longer distances. Numerous authors point to age as a strong predictor of distance covered in children and adolescents [14][15][16][17][18][19]. In addition to age, height has been indicated as one of the variables that most in uences the 6MWD [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…Numerous authors point to age as a strong predictor of distance covered in children and adolescents [14][15][16][17][18][19]. In addition to age, height has been indicated as one of the variables that most in uences the 6MWD [14][15][16][17][18][19]. It is to be expected that taller individuals have longer legs and, consequently, greater strides that enable them to cover greater distances in shorter times.…”

“…A major premise of this commentary is that patients might reach a functional gain phase in the context of interventional trials, followed by an overt and clinically appreciable increase in functional performance where changes in the patients' abilities might be clearly identical to changes in their healthy peers. Research in this eld has focused on cross-sectional studies that have found a signi cantly positive correlation between children's anthropometric characteristics (age and height) and the 6-min walk distance (6MWD) [14][15][16][17][18][19], mainly in the 5-8-year age group [20]. Even boys up to the age of 7 years with Duchenne muscular dystrophy achieve similar distances during the test to those of their normally developing peers [21,22].…”

Development of reference equations for the six-minute walk distance of school-aged Nigerian children

“…(4, 43) Also, we tested participants one-at-a-time, rather than in groups or 'overlapping' (37,44) which may introduce a competitive motivation to longer distances. (36) We also avoided modifications like the use of measuring wheels,(23) safety chasers (33) or trailing participants to measure SpO 2 or HR(32) may add additional motication or distract the participant. (32) Similar to others, (16) we observed a wide range in our participants' 6MWD, attributable to its selfpaced nature variably influenced by individual mood, emotional state or comprehension.…”

Level of the exercise tolerance in healthy adolescents

“…13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. Таким чином, при аналізі літературних даних встановлено, що дистанція, пройдена при проведенні ТШХ істотно варіювала у дітей з різних країн і найвищим значення цього показника було у дітей Туреччині [20], а найнижчим у дітей-мешканців США. Також встановлено, що значення його залежить від ваги, зросту та віку дітей.…”