Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 101, Issue 4, April 2007, Pages 833-838
Respiratory Medicine

Dyspnoea at 6-min walk test in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: Comparison with COPD

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2006.06.030Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Summary

The characteristics of dyspnoea in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) during a 6-min walk test are not clear. This study was designed to evaluate dyspnoea and desaturation during the 6-min walk test in IPF in comparison with that in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is one of the most studied chronic lung diseases.

The 41 consecutive patients with IPF included in this study were assessed by a 6-min walk test and concurrent measures of disease severity. Forty-one age-matched and resting PaO2 value-matched COPD patients who had undertaken the test during the same period were selected as the control.

Only O2 saturation at the end of the test was an independent predictor of dyspnoea in IPF (r2=0.27, P=0.0005), whereas forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) was the only predictor in COPD (r2=0.16, P=0.0096). Desaturation was significantly more severe in IPF (83.6±9.1% in IPF versus 88.0±5.9% in COPD, P<0.001). In contrast, dyspnoea assessed with the Borg scale was significantly more severe in COPD (3.6±2.1 in IPF versus 4.6±1.9 in COPD, P<0.05).

O2 saturation is an independent predictor of dyspnoea at the end of a 6-min walk test in IPF. In comparison with COPD, desaturation is more severe, although dyspnoea is milder.

Keywords

Desaturation
Dyspnoea
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Six-min walk test

Abbreviations

IPF
idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
COPD
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
FEV1
forced expiratory volume in 1 s
TLC
total lung capacity
DLco
diffusing capacity
VC
vital capacity
RV
residual volume
IC
inspiratory capacity

Cited by (0)