Comparison of 6-min walk test distance and cardiopulmonary exercise test performance in children with pulmonary hypertension

• Published in: Archives of disease in childhood 2011-02, Vol.96 (2), p.141-147
• Main Authors: Lammers, Astrid E, Diller, Gerhard-Paul, Odendaal, Dolf, Tailor, Sheila, Derrick, Graham, Haworth, Sheila G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adults; Age; Anaerobic threshold; Biological and medical sciences; Blood pressure; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular diseases; Child; Children; Congenital diseases; Correlation; Diseases; Eisenmenger Complex - complications; Epidemiologic Methods; Exercise; Exercise Test - methods; Exercise Tolerance - physiology; Familial Primary Pulmonary Hypertension; Female; Females; General aspects; Heart Defects, Congenital - complications; Heart rate; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension, Pulmonary - etiology; Hypertension, Pulmonary - physiopathology; Male; Maximum oxygen consumption; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Oxygen consumption; Oxygen Consumption - physiology; Oxygen saturation; Patients; Pediatric diseases; Pneumology; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Pulmonary hypertension; Pulmonary hypertension. Acute cor pulmonale. Pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary vascular diseases; Statistical Analysis
• ISSN: 0003-9888; 1468-2044
• DOI: 10.1136/adc.2009.169904

Objective To assess the relationship between 6-min walk test (6MWT) distance and variables of cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) in children with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Design Retrospective study. Setting Tertiary hospital. Patients Children with PAH. Interventions CPETs and 6MWTs. Main outcome measures Correlations between variables of CPET and 6MWT distance. Results 41 exercise studies were included: 15 in children with idiopathic PAH (mean age 13.0±3.0 years; 9 female), 18 in children with PAH associated with congenital heart disease (age 14.8±2.8 years; 7 female) and 8 in children with Eisenmenger syndrome (age 11.8±2.9 years; 4 female). All underwent a CPET and 6MWT. Peak oxygen consumption (pVO2) and 6MWT distance were reduced to 31.5±12.2% and 47.7±16.7% of the predicted value, respectively (p300 m. Conclusions The 6MWT reflects maximal exercise capacity in patients with a 6MWT distance below 300 m. A CPET should therefore be considered as a complimentary test in children with an exercise tolerance above this threshold. These findings may have implications for assessing response to drug therapy and for consideration as an end point in future PAH trials.