Dourado Victor Zuniga
Departamento de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Santos, São Paulo, Brasil.
Arq Bras Cardiol. 2011 Feb 25.
The six-minute walk test (6MWT) has been broadly used in clinical settings. Several reference equations for prediction of the total distance walked during the test (6MWD) are available in literature. The present review aimed to critically discuss studies, published in Portuguese and English (LILACS, SCIELO, MEDLINE, PUBMED), which evaluated normal values and created reference equations for predicting 6MWD in healthy subjects, comparing them with the results that were recently obtained in Brazilian individuals. Age, sex, weight, height and body mass index were the main demographic and anthropometric features more often correlated with 6MWD. The equations derived from these characteristics were able to explain between 25 and 66% of the total variability in the 6MWD. Unfortunately, the foreign equations were not applicable to the Brazilian population. Even when the 6MWT was performed following strict standardization, the difference in 6MWT performance between foreign and Brazilian individuals remains, indicating the necessity of providing specific reference equations for each population and/or ethnic group. Accordingly, these equations developed in Brazil are probably the most appropriate for interpreting 6MWT performance in Brazilian patients with chronic diseases affecting the exercise capacity. Future studies are necessary with larger sample sizes (e.g. multicentric ones) and randomized design for the reference values of the 6MWD to be considered reliable.
六分钟步行试验（6MWT）已在临床环境中广泛应用。文献中有几个用于预测该试验中步行总距离（6MWD）的参考方程。本综述旨在批判性地讨论以葡萄牙语和英语发表的研究（LILACS、SCIELO、MEDLINE、PUBMED），这些研究评估了健康受试者的正常值并创建了预测6MWD的参考方程，并将其与最近在巴西个体中获得的结果进行比较。年龄、性别、体重、身高和体重指数是与6MWD最常相关的主要人口统计学和人体测量学特征。从这些特征得出的方程能够解释6MWD总变异性的25%至66%。不幸的是，国外的方程不适用于巴西人群。即使严格按照标准化进行6MWT，外国人和巴西人在6MWT表现上的差异仍然存在，这表明有必要为每个群体和/或种族提供特定的参考方程。因此，在巴西开发的这些方程可能最适合解释影响运动能力的巴西慢性病患者的6MWT表现。未来有必要进行更大样本量（例如多中心研究）和随机设计的研究，以使6MWD的参考值被认为可靠。
