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Updated: Mar 15, 2026
Home-Based Prescribed Pulmonary Exercise in Patients with Stable Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Published on: August 24, 2019
Is the six-minute walk test a useful tool to prescribe high-intensity exercise in patients with chronic obstructive
Antenor Rodrigues1, Marianna Di Martino1, Aline G Nellessen1
1Laboratório de Pesquisa em Fisioterapia Pulmonar (LFIP), Departamento de Fisioterapia, Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), Londrina, Paraná, Brazil.
Background:
It is not yet completely known whether the 6MWT can be used to prescribe high-intensity exercise for patients with COPD.
Objective:
To evaluate the ability of the six-minute walk test (6MWT) to prescribe high-intensity exercise for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Methods:
Lung function, maximal inspiratory strength, symptoms and exercise capacity were evaluated in patients with COPD (n = 27) before and after a 12-week high-intensity exercise program. Criteria for high-intensity training were: 1) ≥75% of the 6MWT average speed; 2) American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) criteria (≥60% of the maximal incremental shuttle walk test speed).
Results:
The 6MWT showed good positive and negative predictive values (0.69 and 0.71, respectively), and accuracy (0.70), good reliability (ICC 0.70 [95%CI 0.45-0.85]) and moderate agreement (k 0.41 [95%CI 0.13-0.67]) with the ATS/ERS criteria.
Conclusion:
The 6MWT has good predictive ability and accuracy in relation to high-intensity exercise for patients with COPD.
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