Six-minute walk test for assessment of work capability in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A cross-sectional comparative study

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a systemic disorder causing morbidity, disability, and mortality throughout the world. Although, spirometry parameters have been used for decades to diagnose COPD as well as to grade the severity of this disease, others factors such as the BMI, degree of inflation, and exercise capacity have become important outcome measures for extra-pulmonary manifestations. The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is considered as a simple test to assess the functional capacity of COPD patients. The aim of our study was to implement 6MWT in patients of COPD in our setup to predict morbidity. Aims and Objectives: The objective of our study was to implement 6MWT in patients of COPD in our setup to predict morbidity. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted on thirty COPD patients and thirty control subjects. All the subjects were investigated through history taking, clinical examination, spirometry, and 6MWT in the Department of Physiology, R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS version-21. Results: The values of the spirometry parameters were significantly reduced in cases than in the controls (P < 0.05). The values of 6-min walk distance as well as 6-min work (6MWORK) were also significantly reduced in cases than in the controls (P = 0.0023 and P = 0.0028, respectively). A strong positive correlation was found between forced vital capacity and 6MWORK (r = 0.556), BMI, and 6MWORK (r = 0.84) in patients of COPD. Conclusion: Our study substantiates that 6MWT can be implemented in our set up to assess the work capability and thus to predict morbidity in patients of COPD.