Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 14, 2026
In Vivo Quantitative Assessment of Myocardial Structure, Function, Perfusion and Viability Using Cardiac Micro-computed Tomography
Published on: February 16, 2016
Metabolic equivalents during the 10-m shuttle walking test for post-myocardial infarction patients
1Canterbury Christ Church University, North Holrnes Road, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1QU, UK. kate.woolf-may@canterbury.ac.uk
Objective:
Comorbidities are found to affect metabolic equivalents (METs). Therefore the main objective of this study was to compare METs (1 MET: oxygen uptake (Vo(2)) 3.5 ml/kg/min) during an incremental shuttle walking test (SWT) between non-cardiac and post-myocardial infarction (MI) men, and secondly to determine any differences in Vo(2) (ml/kg/min) between flat treadmill walking and the turning during the shuttle walking in non-cardiac subjects.
Design:
Comparative study.
Subjects:
Thirty one post-MI (mean (SD) age 63.5 (6.5), range 53-77 years) from phase IV cardiac rehabilitation and 19 non-cardiac (64.6 (7.5), range 51-76 years) men participated.
Methods:
All subjects performed an SWT, and non-cardiac subjects a treadmill test of similar protocol. Throughout both, the subject's Vo(2) was measured.
Results:
Analysis comparing lines of regression showed METs at 1.12 to 4.16 mph were higher (p<0.001) for post-MIs versus non-cardiac subjects. For non-cardiac subjects, there were no differences between the treadmill test and SWT (p>0.9) and LoA showed acceptable agreement in METs between treadmill vs SWT, mean difference -1.1 (8.8) (1.96SD).
Conclusion:
It would appear that for asymptomatic individuals it is appropriate to apply established METs for flat walking to the SWT. However, the significantly higher METs for the post-MI compared with the non-cardiac subjects indicates the need for caution when using METs derived from healthy subjects in the prescription of exercise for myocardial patients.
