A mobile application to perform the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) at home : a random walk in the park is as accurate as a standardized 6MWT

Scherrenberg, Martijn; BONNEUX, Cindel; Mahmood, Deeman Yousif; Hansen, Dominique; Dendale, Paul; Coninx, Karin

doi:10.3390/S22114277

Title

A mobile application to perform the Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) at home : a random walk in the park is as accurate as a standardized 6MWT

Author

Scherrenberg, Martijn

BONNEUX, Cindel

Mahmood, Deeman Yousif

Hansen, Dominique

Dendale, Paul

Coninx, Karin

Abstract

The six-minute walk test (6MWT) provides an objective measurement of a person's functional exercise capacity. In this study, we developed a smartphone application that allows cardiac patients to do a self-administered 6MWT at home on a random trajectory. In a prospective study with 102 cardiovascular disease patients, we aimed to identify the optimal circumstances to perform a smartphone-measured 6MWT, i.e., the best algorithm and the best position to wear the smartphone during the test. Furthermore, we investigated if a random walk is as accurate as a standardized 6MWT. When considering both the reliability and accuracy of the distance walked, the best circumstances to perform a standardized smartphone-measured 6MWT are wearing the smartphone in a strap around the patient's arm and using an algorithm that relies on the processed step count data acquired from Google Fit. Furthermore, we demonstrated that a smartphone-measured walk along a random trajectory is as accurate to determine a cardiac patient's functional exercise capacity as a standardized (smartphone-measured) 6MWT. We conclude this paper by presenting how our 6MWT application can be used in a home setting to remotely follow up on cardiac patients' functional exercise capacity.

Language

English

Source (journal)

Sensors. - -

Publication

2022

ISSN

1424-8220

DOI

10.3390/S22114277

Volume/pages

22 :11 (2022) , p. 1-19