The 6-minute walk test to assess exercise capacity of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Purpose: The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of 6MWT used to monitor the change of disease severity or evaluate the outcomes is still debated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of 6MWT MCID used in target population of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: Systematic review was used in this study. Electronic databases including CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and PubMed/MEDLINE were retrieved for relevant articles which published before November 2015. Keywords included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, minimal clinically important difference, exercise tolerance, and 6-minute walk test. A total of 65 articles that matched the search criteria were extracted. After screening the topics and deleting repetitions, 3 articles were selected for further analysis. One study is the randomized controlled trial (RCT), and two study are the systematic review.

Results: The findings recommend the 6MWT is an objective assessment tool of disease severity and outcome evaluations, and invest effort to examine the cut-point value of 6MWT for the effectiveness of Pulmonary rehabilitation exercise training is 25 to 48 meters.

Conclusion: The 6-min walking test (6MWT) is a valid and reliable assessment tool for exercise tolerance in patients with COPD. With anticipation, this article might provide the recommendations of MCID of 6MWT for clinical health care providers and researchers conducting the evaluation of interventional outcomes and effectiveness in patients with COPD.