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Reliability and validity of a twelve-minute walking test for coronary heart disease patients

Mathieu H G de Greef1, Siska R Sprenger, Corrie T A Elzenga

  • 1Institute of Human Movement Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. M.de.Greef@ppsw.rug.nl

Perceptual and Motor Skills
|June 25, 2005
PubMed

Insights

The 12-minute walking test is a reliable and valid tool for assessing cardiorespiratory fitness in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients. This simple test accurately measures fitness levels in individuals with heart conditions.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Exercise Physiology
  • Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

  • Cardiorespiratory fitness is a crucial indicator of health outcomes in coronary heart disease (CHD) patients.
  • Accurate and accessible methods for assessing fitness are essential for effective patient management and rehabilitation.
  • Existing assessment methods may have limitations in terms of accessibility or patient burden.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the reliability and validity of the 12-minute walking test (12MWT) as a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness specifically in patients with CHD.
  • To establish the test-retest reliability and criterion validity of the 12MWT against a gold standard measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 46 coronary heart disease patients from Martini Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands, participated in the reliability study.
  • A subset of 24 CHD patients underwent assessment for the validity study.
  • Test-retest reliability was assessed using Bland-Altman analysis and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC).
  • Criterion validity was determined by correlating 12MWT performance with VO2 peak measurements using Pearson correlation.

Main Results:

  • The test-retest analysis demonstrated a satisfactory Bland-Altman plot, indicating good agreement between repeated measurements.
  • An intraclass correlation coefficient of .98 confirmed excellent test-retest reliability for the 12MWT in this CHD population.
  • A strong Pearson correlation of .77 was found between the 12MWT distance and VO2 peak, supporting its validity.

Conclusions:

  • The 12-minute walking test is a highly reliable tool for assessing cardiorespiratory fitness in coronary heart disease patients.
  • The 12MWT demonstrates strong validity when compared to VO2 peak, making it a suitable alternative for fitness assessment in CHD.
  • This accessible test provides a dependable method for monitoring cardiorespiratory fitness in cardiac rehabilitation programs.

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