Can I ask what distance was covered in your 6 min walk test in metres and what stage copd your at many thanks xx
6 minute walk test : Can I ask what... - Lung Conditions C...
6 minute walk test
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52 Replies
•
I'm pah rather than copd, but I manage 300m. I hate doing it!
• in reply toInamoment
Thank you xx
My last one done last week distance was 30m down from the one I had done 6 months ago and my o2 level was the same as 6 months ago. I am clinicly stage 2 moderate but my symtoms at the moment are severe and I don't have an infection.
• in reply toNottobad
How many metres did you cover overall do you know xx
I think it was 260m but I don't really bother about numbers.
Hello Angie. At PR assessment it was 430 and after PR it was 530. I have an fev1 of 47%. The stage isn't really that relevant as someone else in my group had an fev1 of 49% and his figure was 320. XXX
Hello. 432m. Severe. I have lung disease and the symptoms are very similar to copd. xx
Hi Angie.
I'm down to 230 meters on 15litres of oxygen which is carried for me, my sats drop into the low 70s. I've had pulmonary fibrosis for close to 7 years now and I am active on the transplant list after which I'll be attempting a 4 minute mile 
.
Never done it but might be interesting. Oh and I'm moderate
530m a few weeks ago. Im severe 36% fev1. Heart rate was about 135 and sats went to 86% but recovered quickly after.
I'm impressed ( and very envious ).
Couldn't finish 6 mwt and condition severe
Last one was 390m using 2l oxygen. Hate it would never walk that far normally without stopping. Oxygen was down to 76 by the end.
I'm not COPD but have pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis, my gas transfer is 19%.
440 metres and moderate COPD
Hi I am moderate, I do one every other day, My record is 723m that was outdoors. I started at 450m and built up. They tell me that for my age etc the normal is 425 to 605m. To do this I only go up to 5 on the modified Borg scale for breathing. If you PM me your height weight and age I can work out what they say is the " Normal" for you.
Max pulse 125, spo2 96%.
• in reply toBadbessie
I don't mind Bessie I'm 58 5ft 1 and 72kgs thanks so much xx
Badbessie• in reply to
Hi according to my App your distance should be 357 to 496m. Remember these distances are for people with non chronic illnesses.
• in reply toBadbessie
Mines are 530 m and I'm copd stage 3
Badbessie• in reply to
That's fine but remember the more you can do the better. I never say that will do. What I do is a fast day... then the next day I do slow Six minute tests walking at about 2 thirds of my fastest pace. I started doing two one after another and now I am up to 8. But I have built up very slowly.
• in reply toBadbessie
I walk daily between 3 and 5 kms ...if wet outside I use treadmill have been building this up over 3 months I was just curious as a few ppl I have seen since being diagnosed are saying I don't portray copd stage 3 ...so I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and keep building strength thanks very much for your help xxx
O2Trees• in reply to
Yes, I get that too Angie, people being surprised Im stage 3 (and 71). We all different though which is so obvious on your post here, and also it's harder for people who have other conditions going on.
Just keep keeping on, like you are doing
• in reply toO2Trees
Thanks 02 I'm new to all this as was only diagnosed 3 months on Friday coming ...also 3 months fagless on Friday I'm actually feeling fitter than I was 4 months ago lol work are terminating my contract end of April which is fine with me I start a counselling diploma end of April...only part time as I won't have anything impede on my health ...I'm walking 5k 3 or 4 times a week sometimes more...I'm doing tai chi classes and run upstairs every time lol 4 months ago if there was a lift I was in it xxx
O2Trees• in reply to
You're doing amazingly Angie - you've really got stuck in which will really pay dividends in the future. Ive been diagnosed 16 years now so bit of an old hand. Just starting to run up the stairs though ours go round a bend which slows you down.
It's good you're pacing yourself - good luck with your counselling course. Ive done something similar in the past but retired from that now.
• in reply toO2Trees
Thank you 02 sounds like you're doing grand yourself.. good luck with the stairs lol x
That is so impressive BB, especially as you don't go above 5 borg. Well done
Thankyou, only diagnosed since Christmas, Started slow jogging down hills now. Soon be 58 but for my birthday in June I want to do 800 m on the 6 mwt.
Comparisons between people can seem helpful at first but I get impression this test is really only useful for providing some measure of how you are "doing" (composite of lung function, fitness, breathlessness etc) and how your condition changes over time and is mainly used for seeing if you are getting better/worse or if something like pulmonary hab or medication helps you.
The values you get in test vary with age, weight and height so comparing between people is difficult which is why I thought that they usually gave you the value as a percentage of what is expected for you (i.e. age,weight and hieght corrected). Does that happen ?
This is a formula that can be used to estimate what is normal for someone of your age, height weight.
archinte.jamanetwork.com/ar...
men = [7.57 × height (cm)] − [5.02 × age] − [1.76 × weight (kg)] − 309 m
women = [2.11 × height (cm)] − [5.78 × age] − [2.29 × weight (kg)] + 667 m
Note that I have corrected the formula for women above to read plus 667 and not minus 667 as the paper referenced above states. It seems they copied it from this paper and made a mistake when copying it !!.
atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10....
Little bit sciencey but here is a paper on how values vary with age and disease. Figure 3 has some data for distances expected in COPD stages, IPF and PAH.
erj.ersjournals.com/content...
Im female, age 71, 5'5" and weigh 128 lbs so will try the equation when Ive had some breakfast to fuel my brain.
After I did the 6MWT I looked up the normal for people without impaired lungs and it seemed to be 100m less than I managed to do which of course made me very happy 
But i was around 8 on the Borg scale and heart rate far too high.
From what my app tells me your normal would be between 332m to 471m.
Sadly nearly all the research into what is normal is slightly biased. If you read the full documents there are a number of volunteers that were eliminated. Mainly because the researchers could not put them at risk. Also 5 out of the 6 studies I have looked into were carried out on tracks which again would add distance to the normal group. If the studies are to be believed my distance of 720m puts me on the 95th percentile of normal.
The guys who do me said they thought the expected distances were too high, they reckoned 70% of the calculated distance was ok
Yes that is correct. I do keep saying these distances are considered right for people with no chronic illnesses. In many ways each of us is so individual that the distances walked can only be seen as that person's achievement. At the end of the day that is the important measure. Not the distances of others.
Has anyone tried these formulas? I did mine and the result seemed about what I expected buy my wife's showed minus 785 M so something is wrong with the one for a woman.
I use an App to work it out. There are so many permatations that a range of distances is often easier.
You are right that there is a problem with the WOMENS formula. It is wrong!!.
I just checked the paper that the formula came from and it seems they made a mistake in the formula which they copied from another paper.
The formula they used came from this paper
atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10....
and is the same as they have said except that it should be plus 667 at end and not minus 667 i.e. for WOMEN the formula should have been :-
6MWD = (2.11 × height in cm) − (2.29 × weight in kg) − (5.78 × age) + 667 m
I've corrected it in post above but it does make you wonder about validity of using these formula if the scientists can make such a basic mistake.
Mine was 368m just after a pneumonia jag and I was pretty pleased with myself. The sats went down to the mid 50s but soon recovered (on oxygen). Now I've just calculated that I should have been at the 835m level, so self-congratulations were a little bit early !
Hi. How do you undertake the 6 min walk test? Do you use a treadmill or some device to measure distance outside? I have done it on a treadmill and I can walk 500 m at a steady pace.
• in reply toJehinch
I do mine outside and I use a phone app to do it...you can download them free and it explains it all to you ...the one I have is a picture of a green heart x
Couple of cones in a hospital corridor and a guy with a stopwatch, you do laps. They are supposed to measure oxygen levels but the finger clips rarely work for me. Ear clips do but they don't have one of those, I tell them every time.
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