Walking performance in the 6-min walk test and gait speed in patients undergoing open heart surgery: A preliminary cohort study

The 6-minute walk test (6-MWT) has been commonly used to assess patients after open heart surgery. However, due to some situations, where patients could not perform the test for the duration of 6-minutes, a short walking distance test has been utilized to test the patients (i.e., 5-meter walk distance: 5-MWD). However, little is known whether fixed duration walking test, or fixed-distance walking test, regarding to the prediction of duration of hospital admission. The aim of the study was to evaluate the 6-MWT and 5-MWD in patients who had undergone open heart surgery, in order to predict hospital admission. Settings and Design: A prospective cohort study was designed at Thammasat University Hospital, Thailand. Methods and Material: Fifty-seven participants, who had open heart surgery were recruited and were asked to perform 6-MWT and 5-MWD pre and post-operative heart operation. Statistical Analysis Used: Regression analysis was used to test the prediction of the length of hospital admission and the walking performance. A regression analyses indicated that after adjustment for age and gender, baseline 5-MWD and 6-MWT were associated with increased the hospital admission (ΔR2 = 0.112 and ΔR2 = 0.068, respectively). The 5-MWD might be an alternative to predict the length of hospital admission in patients who had undergone open heart surgery.