TY - JOUR
T1 - Reliability and validity of the 6-min walk test in adults and seniors with intellectual disabilities
AU - Guerra-Balic, Myriam
AU - Oviedo, Guillermo R.
AU - Javierre, Casimiro
AU - Fortuño, Jesús
AU - Barnet-López, Silvia
AU - Niño, Oscar
AU - Alamo, Juan
AU - Fernhall, Bo
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by a grant of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, Spain, DEC's SUR ( 2013FI_B2 00091 ) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (I+D+i Ref: DEP2012-35335 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Introduction: Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) have significantly lower rates of physical activity and fitness than adults without ID. The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is an inexpensive and simple way to test mobility and submaximal work capacity. Purpose: To evaluate the test-retest reliability and validity of the 6MWT in adults and seniors with ID and explore factors contributing to the 6MWT distance (6MWD). Methods: 46 participants with mild, moderate and severe ID levels (age=41±11 years) performed the 6MWT three times (T1; T2; T3) to determine test-retest reliability. To test validity, peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) was measured using a treadmill protocol. To analyze factors contributing to the 6MWD, sex, height, fat mass % and fat free mass %, ID level, isometric leg strength and relative VO2 peak were also measured. Results: The walking distances for T1, T2 and T3 were 460.3±76.9; 489.4±81.2 and 491.4±77.9m, respectively. The 6MWDs between T1-T2 and T1-T3 were significantly different (p<0.001), but T2 and T3 were not different. The intraclass correlation coefficient between T2 and T3 was 0.96 indicating high reliability. Relative VO2 peak and isometric leg strength significantly contributed to the 6MWD (R2=0.55). Conclusions: The 6MWT is an easy, inexpensive, reliable and valid test in adults and seniors with ID. Familiarization is necessary to obtain reliable values. Relative VO2 peak and leg strength have significant impact on the distance walked.
AB - Introduction: Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) have significantly lower rates of physical activity and fitness than adults without ID. The 6-min walk test (6MWT) is an inexpensive and simple way to test mobility and submaximal work capacity. Purpose: To evaluate the test-retest reliability and validity of the 6MWT in adults and seniors with ID and explore factors contributing to the 6MWT distance (6MWD). Methods: 46 participants with mild, moderate and severe ID levels (age=41±11 years) performed the 6MWT three times (T1; T2; T3) to determine test-retest reliability. To test validity, peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak) was measured using a treadmill protocol. To analyze factors contributing to the 6MWD, sex, height, fat mass % and fat free mass %, ID level, isometric leg strength and relative VO2 peak were also measured. Results: The walking distances for T1, T2 and T3 were 460.3±76.9; 489.4±81.2 and 491.4±77.9m, respectively. The 6MWDs between T1-T2 and T1-T3 were significantly different (p<0.001), but T2 and T3 were not different. The intraclass correlation coefficient between T2 and T3 was 0.96 indicating high reliability. Relative VO2 peak and isometric leg strength significantly contributed to the 6MWD (R2=0.55). Conclusions: The 6MWT is an easy, inexpensive, reliable and valid test in adults and seniors with ID. Familiarization is necessary to obtain reliable values. Relative VO2 peak and leg strength have significant impact on the distance walked.
KW - Adults
KW - Intellectual disability
KW - Reliability
KW - Seniors
KW - Six-minute walk test
KW - Validity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84942580586&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ridd.2015.09.011
DO - 10.1016/j.ridd.2015.09.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 26426514
AN - SCOPUS:84942580586
SN - 0891-4222
VL - 47
SP - 144
EP - 153
JO - Research in Developmental Disabilities
JF - Research in Developmental Disabilities
ER -