Buse Özcan Kahraman1, Ertuğrul Yüksel2, Abdurrahman Nalbant2, Umut Ziya Koçak3, Bayram Ünver1. 1. School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey 2. Graduate School of Health Science, Dokuz Eylül University, İzmir, Turkey 3. Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, İzmir Katip Çelebi University, İzmir, Turkey
Abstract
Background/aim: The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) is the most commonly used and well-established test to measure functional exercise capacity in research and clinical settings. Country-specific reference values are important to interpret the results of 6MWT. However, no reference values have been reported for healthy Turkish children aged between 6 and 12 years old. The aim of this study was to determine normal reference values for the 6MWT test of healthy Turkish children aged between 6 and 12 years old. Materials and methods: Two hundred and sixty-two healthy children aged between 6 and 12 years old were included in this cross-sectional study. Measures included height, weight, body mass index (BMI), leg length, and 6MWT distance (6MWD). Results: The mean 6MWD was 572.58 (SD = 117.72) m. There were significant correlations between 6MWD and age (r = 0.764, P < 0.001), height (r = 0.742, P < 0.001), weight (r = 0.605, P < 0.001), BMI (r = 0.234, P < 0.001), and lower extremity length (r = 0.708, P < 0.001). In the stepwise multiple linear regression model, age and height explained about 60% of the variability of the 6MWT distance for the total sample. Conclusion: Reference values and prediction equation for the 6MWT in healthy Turkish children aged 6–12 years old have been reported for the first time in this study. Researchers and clinicians can use them to interpret the effectiveness of a treatment and/or to compare the results of disabled children with healthy ones. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Background/aim: The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) is the most commonly used and well-established test to measure functional exercise capacity in research and clinical settings. Country-specific reference values are important to interpret the results of 6MWT. However, no reference values have been reported for healthy Turkish children aged between 6 and 12 years old. The aim of this study was to determine normal reference values for the 6MWT test of healthy Turkish children aged between 6 and 12 years old. Materials and methods: Two hundred and sixty-two healthy children aged between 6 and 12 years old were included in this cross-sectional study. Measures included height, weight, body mass index (BMI), leg length, and 6MWT distance (6MWD). Results: The mean 6MWD was 572.58 (SD = 117.72) m. There were significant correlations between 6MWD and age (r = 0.764, P < 0.001), height (r = 0.742, P < 0.001), weight (r = 0.605, P < 0.001), BMI (r = 0.234, P < 0.001), and lower extremity length (r = 0.708, P < 0.001). In the stepwise multiple linear regression model, age and height explained about 60% of the variability of the 6MWT distance for the total sample. Conclusion: Reference values and prediction equation for the 6MWT in healthy Turkish children aged 6–12 years old have been reported for the first time in this study. Researchers and clinicians can use them to interpret the effectiveness of a treatment and/or to compare the results of disabled children with healthy ones. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Entities:
Keywords:
Child; healthy; 6-minute walk test; reference value; normative data