Testing of a Self-administered 6-Minute Walk Test Using Technology: Usability, Reliability and Validity Study.
Jenna Smith-Turchyn, Scott C Adams, Catherine M Sabiston
PMID 34554105WHAT IT FOUND
Healthy young adults found the EasyMeasure app easy and acceptable, but none calculated the 6-minute walk distance correctly.
They lost lap counts or misread scores, so this app version is not accurate enough for independent use.
Key findings
01No participant using the EasyMeasure app could calculate their 6-minute walk distance correctly; 6 of 10 miscounted laps and 6 of 10 measured each lap distance incorrectly by at least 0.5 m.
02The supervised standard 6-minute walk test produced a significantly longer distance than the app-based self-administered test (mean difference 163.4 m, 95% CI 95.4-231.5; P=.001).
03App users' self-reported distances correlated with the assessor's recorded actual distances (r=0.834; P=.003), but every participant-assessor difference exceeded the minimal clinically important difference.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 20 young, healthy university students were studied, so the results do not show how older adults, people with chronic conditions, or patients with lower fitness would manage the test. The self-administered test was done in a laboratory room, not a home, and the walking path may not reflect the space available at home. The EasyMeasure app does not count laps, time the test, or calculate total distance, so participants had to multitask and do their own math. The sample size was chosen for usability, not to test accuracy or clinical outcomes, so the correlations and group differences should be read cautiously. The 6-minute walk test may have a ceiling effect in young able-bodied people, so it may not be the best functional capacity test for this group.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the app's ease of use as proof that it gives a usable 6-minute walk score. None of the app users could calculate their total distance correctly, and every difference between their score and the assessor's actual distance was larger than the smallest change that would matter clinically.