6 min.test

The 6-Minute Walk Test is a simple, efficient, accurate, and safe way to measure functional exercise capacity at submaximal exercise levels in adults; it is used to predict morbidity and mortality in cardiopulmonary diseases. A modified form of the test has now proven to be safe, easy to perform and also very acceptable for children. It provides a simple means of measuring functional movement capacity in children, even at a young age, and could be useful in conducting comparative studies.

In a follow-up study, the research team calculated z-scores that help to correlate the change in walking distance with growth. The Z-Score indicates the distance of a measured value from the mean (in this case the walking distance) in standard deviations. Z-scores cannot replace clinical judgment and cannot be used as the sole criterion to determine whether or not there is deterioration / improvement in cardiopulmonary disease. These reference values ​​allow a more precise classification of mobility in chronically ill children or children with an underlying cardiopulmonary disease and better monitoring of the effects of an intervention or treatment.