Physical and functional follow-up of tuberculosis patients in initial intensive phase of treatment in Cameroon using the 6-min walk test.

This study aimed to evaluate functional capacities of Cameroonian tuberculosis (TB) patients in initial intensive phase of treatment using the 6-min walk test (6MWT) and to compare them to an age-matched healthy group. Twenty-eight TB patients newly diagnosed and 19 healthy age-matched peoples participated in the study. Performance parameters were determined using the 6MWT. Anthropometric and cardiorespiratory parameters were measured at baseline and after 6MWT. Two months later, TB patients were submitted to the same evaluation. We found significant differences in anthropometric parameters between the two groups. The baseline cardiorespiratory parameters and performance characteristics of TB patients were lower than control group (571.7±121.0 m vs 841.6±53.0 m, P<0.0001 for 6-min walk distance (6MWD) and 18.1±2.8 mL/kg/min vs 24.3±1.2 mL/kg/min, P<0.001 for mean VO2 peak (peak oxygen consumption). Two months after, significant improvements were noted in anthropometric, cardiorespiratory and performance parameters except for bone mass and FEV1/FEV6 (forced expiratory volumes in 1 second/6 seconds) ratio. Significant correlations were found between the 2-min walked distance (P<0.0001, r=0.95), 4-min walked distance (P<0.0001, r=0.97) and 6MWD. In conclusion, TB patients have impaired physical functional capacity but they improved after 2 months of treatment. 6MWT can be a useful tool in the assessment of physical parameters and cardiorespiratory functional capacity rehabilitation of TB patients during the treatment.

Effect of 24-week repeated short-time walking based training program on physical fitness of black Cameroonian obese women.

This study aimed to examine the effects of a training program based on repetition of short-time walk sequences on cardiorespiratory response, physical performance and metabolic parameters in black Cameroonian obese women. One hundred thirty-nine obese women (body mass in-dex [BMI]>30 kg/m2) were divided into three groups: premenopausal (Pre-M; 39.7±7.9 yr; n=48), postmenopausal (Post-M; 55.0±2.5 yr; n=61) and control group (CONT; 48.7±9.4 yr; n=30). Only Pre-M and Post-M completed 24-week repeated short-time walking program. An-thropometric, cardiorespiratory, metabolic parameters, and the 6-min walk distance (6MWD) were measured at baseline (S1), 12 weeks follow-up (S2), and 2 days after the last session (S3). Significant changes were observed in weight, BMI, fatty mass and 6MWD in Pre-M and Post-M after 24 weeks. The waist and hip circumferences, percentages of water, muscle mass and bone mass changed in Post-M. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein and forced expiratory volumes in 1 and 6 sec showed significant improvements in Pre-M and Post-M. High density lipoprotein increased only in Post-M (0.5±0.2 g/L vs 0.7±0.1 g/L, P=0.041). In conclusion, this training modality could constitute an option for obese women rehabilitation.