Article

The aim of this study was to evaluate a new field test, the six-minute
stepper test (6-MST), by studying its reproducibility, sensitivity and validity.
METHODS: After a familiarization test, 16 patients with chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD) and 15 healthy subjects performed two six-minute stepper
tests per day over three evaluation days. Ten of the 16 patients with COPD also
performed a six-minute walking test (6-MWT) with an analysis of gas exchange to
compare the metabolic requirements of the two tests. Dyspnoea Borg values were
evaluated with Borg's CR-10 scale. RESULTS: The mean (SD) scores for the COPD
group for the first and second six-minute stepper tests were 382.49 (106.01) and
412.45 (118.39) strokes/6 minutes, respectively. Crossed comparison between the
first or the second six-minute stepper tests of each evaluation day revealed no
significant difference, indicating the reproducibility of the test. The
sensitivity was demonstrated by a significantly higher performance in the healthy
group (P < 0.001), demonstrating the ability of the test to detect two groups
with different fitness levels. Finally, mean dyspnoea Borg values (SD) were
significantly lower (P < 0.05) during the six-minute stepper test than during
6-MWT (2.5 (1.5) versus 3.1 (1.2)). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that the
six-minute stepper test is a reproducible, sensitive, secure, well-tolerated and
feasible test for patients with COPD. The reproducibility and sensitivity of the
six-minute stepper test suggests that this test could be used in the evaluation of exercise tolerance in patients with COPD.

Langue : ANGLAIS