Improvement in Shuttle Walking Test Performance Correlates with Subjective Ratings in Chronic Lung Disease

Abstract

We studied 20 individuals with stable chronic lung disease (15 males, mean age=67.6yr), and investigated whether patients' subjective ratings of their walking ability correlate with improvements in objective evaluations. We used Shuttle Walking Test (SWT), 6MWT, ADL score, spirometry, and quadriceps strength as objective evaluations. Moreover, we estimated which improvements in objective evaluations required for patients to report subjective improvement in their walking ability.
We found that only the improvement in SWT distance significantly correlated with patients' subjective ratings (ρ=0.48, p<0.05). Improvement in the mean SWT distance was 35% in the group who had reported subjective improvements in their walking ability, 5% in the group who had reported no change. The results suggest that improvement in SWT distance may be useful to judge the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation program.