RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 REPRODUCIBILITY OF CADENCE FREE SIX-MINUTE STEP TEST IN SUBJECTS WITH COPD.
JF Respiratory Care
FD American Association for Respiratory Care
SP respcare.02743
DO 10.4187/respcare.02743
A1 Joyce N. F. da Costa
A1 Juliano F. Arcuri
A1 Ivana L. Gonçalves
A1 Simone F. Davi
A1 Bruna V. Pessoa
A1 Mauricio Jamami
A1 Valéria A. P. Di Lorenzo
YR 2013
UL http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/09/17/respcare.02743.abstract
AB Introduction: Six-minute step test has been used to assess functional capacity in chronic conditions; however, its reproducibility in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease population has not been evaluated. This study objective was to evaluate the six-minute step test reproducibility. Methods: The test was performed in a single 20cm height step, where subjects were instructed to step up and down (cadence free) for six minutes. Subjects underwent three tests; the first and second controlled by the same assessor, with a 30min interval. Third test was controlled by a different assessor, one week after. For intra-rater comparison, first and second performances of the test were used, and for inter assessor comparison, best performance of the first two tests were compared to the third test. Results: Excellent relative intra and inter-rater reproducibility was observed (intraclass correlation coefficient greater than 0.8) and there was no statistical difference (repeated measures ANOVA) among the performances of the three tests. Intra-rater error values were acceptable (mean error of 5.7 steps and limits of agreement between −7 and 18 steps). Inter-rater error values were not acceptable, with mean error of 4.4 steps and limits of agreement between −20 and 29 steps. Conclusion: Six-minute step test proved to be reproducible in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease population when performed by the same assessor.