Assessment of oxygen uptake during the 6-minute walking test in patients with heart failure: Preliminary experience with a portable device☆,☆☆,★,★★
Section snippets
Methods
We studied 26 patients (2 women, 24 men; mean age, 56 ± 11 years; range, 22 to 69 years) with heart failure resulting from left ventricular systolic dysfunction (mean left ventricular ejection fraction 22% ± 6%; range 13% to 35%). All of patients had had symptoms of heart failure for ≥6 months, in spite of treatment with diuretics and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor; 18 patients were receiving additional digoxin therapy. The cause of heart failure was coronary artery disease (without
Results
Demographic, clinical, and exercise data of all patients are shown in Table I . The V o2 at the end of the 6-MWT was lower than peak V o2 at maximal exercise (12.9 ± 4.4 ml/kg/min vs 15 ± 4 ml/kg/min; p < 0.05) and corresponded to 86% of peak V o2 . However, at the end of the 6-MWT, 7 (27%) of 26 patients had a V o2 equal to or higher than the V o2 of maximal exercise. Anaerobic threshold was identified in 23 (88%) of 26 patients during maximal exercise and in 19 (73%) patients during the
Discussion
Our results indicate that, in patients with heart failure, the V o2 measured at the end of a standardized 6-MWT is, on average, only 15% lower than peak V o2 of a symptom-limited exercise test. Furthermore, although the 6-MWT is usually considered a submaximal exercise, in one fourth of our patients V o2 during the test was equal to or even higher than peak V o2 , indicating an almost maximal effort. This observation also was confirmed by the fact that in most of the patients (19 [73%] of 26),
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From the aCardiology Division, Salvatore Maugeri Foundation, IRCCS, Gussago bMI LA, Forniture Medicali.
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Dr. Faggiano is currently with the Cardiology Division, S. Orsola Hospital.
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Reprint requests: Dr. Pompilio Faggiano, Via S. Antonio, 6, 25133 Brescia, Italy.
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