Article

The 200-m fast-walk test has been proposed as a high- intensity
performance test in healthy, elderly subjects. Adaptation of low-risk coronary
artery disease patients during this test were compared with those in a 6-min walk
test and a maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test. DESIGN: Thirty patients with
stable coronary artery disease (51.9 +/- 8.7 yrs), referred to the cardiac
rehabilitation department, performed a cardiopulmonary exercise test, then a
200-m fast-walk test and a 6-min walk test in a random order, before and after
the training period (6 wks, 3 days per week). Heart rate was monitored during
each test. Peak workload of cardiopulmonary exercise test, distance walked on the
6-min walk test, and time to perform the 200-m fast-walk test were measured. A
subsample of ten patients performed the exercise test with gas exchange
measurements, with ventilatory threshold determination.
RESULTS: All subjects
completed walk tests without complaint or incidents. Compared with the
cardiopulmonary exercise test, the cardiac relative intensity was higher during
the 200-m fast-walk test than during the 6-min walk test, both before (89.6% vs.
78.1% of cardiopulmonary exercise test maximal heart rate; P < 0.05) and after
(83.8% vs. 74.3%; P < 0.05) training. Among the subsample of ten patients, the
200-m fast-walk test heart rate was significantly higher than the ventilatory
threshold heart rate, which did not differ from the 6-min walk test heart rate.
The 200-m fast-walk test time significantly decreased after training (-9.1%, P <
0.01). CONCLUSION: In patients with coronary artery disease at low risk, the
200-m fast-walk test explores higher levels of cardiorespiratory capacity than
the 6-min walk test. Thus, this could be a useful field test in complement to the
cardiopulmonary exercise test to assess functional capacity improvement and
update training targets regularly during the course of high-intensity rehabilitation programs in this population.

Langue : ANGLAIS