Factors affecting dyspnea after the 6-minute walk test in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients presenting with exercise-induced hypoxemia.
Akira Morino, Hiroki Takahashi, Hirofumi Chiba and 1 others
PMID 28878483WHAT IT FOUND
In a small group of people with pulmonary fibrosis whose oxygen fell after walking, smaller vital capacity and more leg fatigue went with more breathlessness.
Ask about leg tiredness after walking.
Key findings
01Vital capacity and leg fatigue were selected as factors associated with breathlessness after the 6-minute walk test.
02After the 6-minute walk, mean breathlessness was 3.0 on a 0 to 10 scale and mean leg fatigue was 1.5 on the same scale.
03Quadriceps force did not show a significant correlation with breathlessness, but leg fatigue did.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 14 patients were studied, so chance findings are likely. All patients had mild to moderate symptoms, so the result may not apply to people with severe pulmonary fibrosis. This was a retrospective association study, not a treatment trial, so it cannot show that changing vital capacity or leg fatigue changes breathlessness. Some patients were receiving long-term oxygen therapy, and the paper does not show whether that altered the associations.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that treating leg fatigue will reduce breathlessness. This was a small observational study, and it only showed that vital capacity and leg fatigue were associated with post-walk breathlessness.