The Six-Minutes Walking Test (6MWT) in healthy Turkish children and its comparative review

Abstract

Having data about its own subjective condition is important for each country. The aim of this study was to establish the values for six-minutes walking test (6MWT) among healthy children. The study population included 732 children (342 girls and 390 boys) aged 7-14 from 3 different regions in the city center. Their height and weight were measured and a sixminutes walking test was performed to the children. Mann-Whitney U test for gender and walking distance; Pearson correlation test for the relationship between height, weight and age; Kruskal-Wallis analysis methods for walking distance of the age groups were used. The six-minutes walking (6MWT) distance of the children ages 7-14 was 684.20 ± 109.31 m in total. There was significantly positive relation in medium level between childrens age and the 6MWT distance. There was a significantly positive relation in medium level between childrens height and the 6-MWT distance. There was also a significantly positive relation in low level between childrens weight and the 6-MWT distance. A statistically significant difference between the 6-MWT distance according to childrens gender was observed. Finally there was a significant difference between 6-MW distance according to the childrens age groups.