Evaluation of the change of six-minute walk test distance with conditioning

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive disease characterized by an elevation of pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance, leading to right ventricular failure and death. Exercise intolerance is the main characteristic of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The six-minute walking test (6MWT) and cardiopulmonary exercise test are widely used in assessing exercise capacity of PH patients. Six-minute walking distance (6MWD) has been specified as the main clinical outcome in PH and has been used as the primary end-point in many studies conducted for new PH treatments. In addition, it has prognostic importance and is a good prognostic marker. There are many environmental and individual factors that affect the sensitivity and objectivity of the 6-minute walk test, which has such an important role in PH. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the 6-minute walk test distance may undergo significant changes with conditioning. Fifty patients with Group I-IV pulmonary hypertension who were admitted to outpatient clinic of Cardiology Department of Fırat University Medical Faculty (between August 2019 and September 2019) were included in the study. These patients were randomly divided into pairs, and first, one by one and then, two patients simultaneously were subjected to a 6-minute walk test in accordance to the 2002 American Thoracic Society (ATS) consensus. When the 6-minute walk test results were examined, the mean distance of the 50 patients included in the study was 348.8 ± 97.7 m at the end of the first test, and 381.4 ± 95.3 m at the end of the second test. The second walking test showed a mean increase of 32.6 meters or 9.3% than the first test. And this increase was found to be statistically significant (p <0.01). In this study, it was observed that conditioning improved the performance of the patients and increased the walking distance. As a result of the study, it was demonstrated that conditioning can be used to increase the sensitivity and objectivity of the 6-minute walk test.