Utility of the 6-minute walk test in assessing maintenance of physical activity after cardiac rehabilitation

Evaluation of therapeutic patient education (TPE) is an integral part of cardiac rehabilitation programs. An important component of this involves assessing continued physical activity (PA) after rehabilitation. Few tools are available to assess the maintenance of physical activity, and we argue that use of a field test like the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) can provide some useful indicators. Objective: to study the utility of the 6MWT as a tool for assessing maintenance of PA in post-rehabilitation follow-up. Methods: we conducted a retrospective study of 168 patients (133 men and 35 women) with a mean age of 60.65 years (+/-9.7). First, we analyzed the data from a stress test (ST) and a 6MWT at the beginning and end of rehabilitation. We then analyzed the data from a 6MWT and an International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) performed six months after the end of rehabilitation. Results: there was a significant correlation between the 6MWT and the initial and final ST (r=0.5456, p