Comparative analysis of oxygen uptake in elderly subjects performing two walk tests: the six-minute walk test and the 200-m fast walk test
Objective: A novel walk test is proposed to assess the ability of elderly subjects to sustain a submaximal effort in ecological surroundings. Vo2 uptake during this test was compared with that of a six-minute walk test and maximal exercise test. Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Setting: Rehabil...
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Published in | Clinical rehabilitation Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 162 - 168 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London, England
SAGE Publications
01.02.2008
Sage Publications Ltd |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Objective: A novel walk test is proposed to assess the ability of elderly subjects to sustain a submaximal effort in ecological surroundings. Vo2 uptake during this test was compared with that of a six-minute walk test and maximal exercise test.
Design: Descriptive laboratory study.
Setting: Rehabilitation department, Dijon University Hospital.
Subjects: Thirty-one subjects, aged from 70 to 85 years, free from any chronic disease.
Intervention: Three tests to assess physical capacities: the 200-m fast walk test (200 mFWT), the six-minute walk test (6 MWT) at self-paced speed, and one maximal cardiorespiratory exercise test on an ergocycle.
Main measures: Distance walked on the 6 MWT, time to perform the 200 mFWT. Heart rate (HR) and oxygen uptake (Vo2) were measured for each test.
Results: All subjects successfully completed the two walk tests without any complaints. They walked more quickly during the 200 mFWT than during the 6 MWT (mean (SD) speed respectively 1.60 (0.17) versus 1.23 (0.16) m/s, P<0.001). Compared with the maximal exercise test, the relative intensity was much higher during the 200 mFWT than during the 6 MWT (mean (SD) Vo2 uptake 86.8 (8.9)% versus 67.4 (10.7)% of peak Vo2, mean (SD) HR 89.9 (9.4) versus 76.2 (0.8)% of peak HR; P<0.001).
Conclusion: In healthy elderly subjects, the 200 mFWT requires a more sustained effort than the 6 MWT. This test is simple, ecological and well tolerated. In addition to the 6 MWT, the 200 mFWT could be a useful tool to build up and evaluate training or rehabilitation programmes, especially when interval training is planned |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0269-2155 1477-0873 |
DOI: | 10.1177/0269215507080125 |