The 200-m fast-walk test compared with the 6-min walk test and the maximal cardiopulmonary test: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE

The 200-m fast-walk test has been proposed as a high- intensity performance test in healthy, elderly subjects. Adaptation of low-risk coronary artery disease patients during this test were compared with those in a 6-min walk test and a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test.

DESIGN

Thirty patients with stable coronary artery disease (51.9 +/- 8.7 yrs), referred to the cardiac rehabilitation department, performed a cardiopulmonary exercise test, then a 200-m fast-walk test and a 6-min walk test in a random order, before and after the training period (6 wks, 3 days per week). Heart rate was monitored during each test. Peak workload of cardiopulmonary exercise test, distance walked on the 6-min walk test, and time to perform the 200-m fast-walk test were measured. A subsample of ten patients performed the exercise test with gas exchange measurements, with ventilatory threshold determination.

RESULTS

All subjects completed walk tests without complaint or incidents. Compared with the cardiopulmonary exercise test, the cardiac relative intensity was higher during the 200-m fast-walk test than during the 6-min walk test, both before (89.6% vs. 78.1% of cardiopulmonary exercise test maximal heart rate; P < 0.05) and after (83.8% vs. 74.3%; P < 0.05) training. Among the subsample of ten patients, the 200-m fast-walk test heart rate was significantly higher than the ventilatory threshold heart rate, which did not differ from the 6-min walk test heart rate. The 200-m fast-walk test time significantly decreased after training (-9.1%, P < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

In patients with coronary artery disease at low risk, the 200-m fast-walk test explores higher levels of cardiorespiratory capacity than the 6-min walk test. Thus, this could be a useful field test in complement to the cardiopulmonary exercise test to assess functional capacity improvement and update training targets regularly during the course of high-intensity rehabilitation programs in this population.