The Chinese (Mandarin) instructions of the 6-minute walk test: A validation study.
Vivian Z Tan, Meredith Q Lee, Daryl L Wong and 4 others
PMID 34054256WHAT IT FOUND
Chinese Mandarin instructions for the 6-minute walk test produced walk distances similar to English instructions in 52 healthy bilingual adults, and the same assessors could repeat the test consistently.
Key findings
01The Chinese Mandarin instructions produced walk distances of 593 ± 91.5 m, while English instructions produced 589 ± 94.5 m, and the two instruction sets were highly similar (r = 0.963).
02The three assessors repeated the Chinese instruction test consistently, with intra-rater ICC values of 0.996, 1.000, and 1.000, and an inter-rater ICC of 0.999.
03The Chinese and English walk distances had a weak positive correlation with treadmill VO2 max (r = 0.315 and r = 0.309).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The validation participants were healthy bilingual adults aged 21 to 60 years, with a mean age of 25.9 ± 8.79 years, so the findings may not apply to older adults or patients with cardiopulmonary disease. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling and needed to complete an online questionnaire independently, which may have favoured younger, tech-savvy adults. The reliability pilot included only six healthy participants. The Chinese and English walk distances had a weak positive correlation with treadmill VO2 max (r = 0.315 and r = 0.309), and the authors noted this was poor compared with published 6MWT validity data. The study did not test the instructions in patient populations, so it does not show that the Chinese instructions work for people with cardiopulmonary disease.
Declared interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume these instructions have been validated for Chinese-speaking patients with cardiopulmonary disease. The study tested only healthy bilingual adults aged 21 to 60 years, and the walk distance correlations with treadmill VO2 max were weak (r = 0.315 for Chinese instructions and r = 0.309 for English instructions).