Six-minute walk work is not correlated to the degree of airflow obstruction in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

The six-minute walking test distance, despite being considered the main parameter, does not consider body weight which is known to influence exercise capacity. A body of evidence shows the degree of airflow obstruction does not correlate to walking distance and the body weight affects the work/energy required to perform the walk. To verify if the degree of airflow obstruction correlates to six-minute walk work obtained by weight – walking distance product. A total of 60 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were evaluated. The physiological and functional variables were correlated to distance and body weight – walking distance product (WxW). There were no correlations between sixminute walk work and the degree of airflow obstruction. A positive and significant correlation were observed between the distance and Carbon Monoxide Diffusing Capacity (DLCO) (r=0.6; p