Chest
Clinical InvestigationsEXERCISEThe 6-min Walk Test*: A Quick Measure of Functional Status in Elderly Adults
Section snippets
Study Population
Participants in the CHS were selected using a Medicare eligibility list provided by the US Health Care Financing Administration for the four participating communities: Forsyth County, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, PA; Sacramento County, California; and Washington County, Maryland. These communities are diverse in proportion of minorities, education and income levels, degree of urbanization, death rates, and availability of medical care. The initial study cohort of 5,201 participants was recruited
6MWT Exclusions and Safety
Of the 3,333 participants who attended the 1996 through 1997 clinic visit, approximately one third were excluded or chose not to try the 6MWT (Table 1). The 164 participants who started the walk but stopped walking before 6 min had elapsed (partial completers) were included in the analyses for this report. Those who completed the walk (n = 2,117) were significantly healthier in many respects when compared to the partial completers, or to those who did not perform the test (Table 2). Those with
Discussion
We found that most elderly persons can safely perform the 6MWT to quickly measure their functional status. We may be the first investigators to describe associations of 6MWD with impaired ADL; self-reported health; education; race; a history of coronary heart disease, TIA, stroke, or diabetes; and indexes of inflammation: (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and WBC count).
The 12-min walking test was introduced in 1968 as a guide to physical fitness,28 and later applied to patients with COPD.29 It
Participating Institutions and Principal Investigators
Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Gregory L. Burke, MD; ECG Reading Center, Wake Forest University, Pentti Rautaharju, MD, PhD; University of California, Davis, John Robbins, MD, MHS; The Johns Hopkins University, Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH; MRI Reading Center, The Johns Hopkins University, Nick Bryan, MD, PhD, and Norman J. Beauchamp, MD; University of Pittsburgh, Lewis H. Kuller, MD; Echocardiography Reading Center (baseline), University of California, Irvine, Julius M. Gardin, MD;
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This research was supported by contracts N01-HC-85079 through N01-HC-85086, N01-HC-35129, and N01-HC-15103 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.