6-Minute walk test for prediction of heart failure in stable outpatients

Abstract

Background and Objective: Heart failure (HF) is becoming an increasingly serious public health issue. The six-minute walk test (6-MWT) is a useful tool for determining the prognosis of HF patients. Due to a lack of research on their predictive relevance in 6-MWT, the goal of the study was to see if 6-MWT was indeed beneficial as a predictive indicator of death in patients with mild-to-moderate congestive heart failure.

Methods: Secondary data was employed in this investigation. The 6-MWT was used to divide the walking lengths of 45 individuals with HF into two performance levels: Group I ≤300 m and Group II >300 m. All of the patients had left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction, 38.23 ±7.348) and were in stable New York Heart Association functional classes II (91.1%) and III (6.7%) heart failure, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSS. log-rank test was used for comparison of the 2 curves.

Results: The current findings reported that the risk of death was significantly higher in patients whose 6MWT distance (6MWTD) was ≤300m, as compared to patients whose 6MWTD was >300m (Cox regression model). The fatality rate was significantly lower in patients with a 6MWTD of ≤300 m, compared to patients with a 6MWTD of >300 m.

Conclusions: According to the findings, a 6MWTD of less than 300 m is useless as a predictive indication of death in patients with mild to moderate congestive HF.