Functional Exercise Capacity and Exploratory ICF-Aligned Interpretation of the Incremental Shuttle Walk Test in...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Pulmonology
• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Clinical Exercise Physiology

Background:

• Asthma in children can cause exercise limitations beyond resting lung function.
• The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a framework for understanding activity limitations.
• Integrating objective exercise data with ICF interpretation in pediatric asthma is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To interpret functional exercise capacity in children with asthma using the Incremental Shuttle Walk Test (ISWT).
• To align ISWT performance with ICF activity qualifiers.
• To examine associations between ISWT performance and lung function, asthma control, quality of life, and demographics.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 39 children with asthma.
• Participants underwent spirometry, completed asthma control and quality of life questionnaires, and performed the ISWT.
• ISWT results were interpreted using an ICF-aligned framework categorizing activity limitation.

Main Results:

• Children with asthma showed preserved lung function but markedly reduced functional exercise capacity (mean ISWT 41.4% predicted).
• 72% of participants were categorized with severe activity limitation based on the ICF-aligned framework.
• No significant differences in lung function, asthma control, or quality of life were found between functional limitation categories.

Conclusions:

• Children with asthma can have substantial functional exercise limitations despite seemingly normal lung function and asthma control.
• An ICF-aligned interpretation of ISWT performance offers a potentially useful clinical tool for assessing activity limitations.
• Further validation is needed before widespread clinical application of this ICF-aligned approach.