Reliability of the six-minute walk test in people with fibromyalgia

✍ Scribed by Pankoff, Brenda A. ;Overend, Tom J. ;Lucy, S. Deborah ;White, Kevin P.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 104 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/1529-0131(200010)13:5<291::aid-anr8>3.0.co;2-x

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

To determine the test-retest reliability of the 6-minute walk test in people with fibromyalgia.

Methods:

Twenty-six subjects (27-59 years of age) performed 3 walk tests over consecutive days before and after a 4-week treatment program. reliability was determined using a one-way repeated measures analysis of variance and the intraclass correlation coefficient (icc2,1).

Results:

Reliability of the 6-minute walk test was excellent both at program intake (icc2,1 = 0.91) and program completion (icc2,1 = 0.98). on program intake, significant differences (p < 0.01) were found between test 1 (478 +/- 61 m) and test 2 (492 +/- 57 m), and between test 1 and test 3 (495 +/- 60 m). on program completion, there were no significant differences across the 3 replicate tests (507 m, 505 m, and 509 m).

Conclusions:

The 6-minute walk test is a reliable measure in people with fibromyalgia. in this study, two trials were required to achieve a stable walk performance before a treatment program. this learning effect was not present following the intervention.