Six Minute Walk Test in Covid 19 Recovery Patients

Introduction: COVID-19 pneumonia  is a respiratory disease caused by a novel and terrible coronavirus, which usually presents with lung involvement and symptoms range from cough , shortness of breath to respiratory distress syndrome and hypoxemia .Some persistent symptoms such as dyspnea and fatigue represented in covid 19 patients following disease improvement. In the current study, we evaluated the pulmonary status of COVID-19 patients who had lung involvement after 3 months relief ,utilizing a 6-minute walking test (6MWT).Method: In this single center cross-sectional study, we recruited 60 COVID-19 confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)), patients who were cured three months ago and collected their demographic information, modified medical research council (MMRC)questionnaire , pulmonary involvement percentage (based on CT-scan reports), 6MWT, heart rate, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and saturation of O2 (SPO2)% before and after 6MWT. The study used frequency tests to describe qualitative variables and mean ± standard deviation (SD) for quantitative variables. Data analysis included t-tests, chi-squares, and ANOVA. SPSS 26 is used for all analytic processes.Result: The participants  had  mean age 44.27± 11.5 years included 32 men (53.3%) , 28 women (46.7%). The mean 6MWTdistance was 454.97±95.32 meters(range:219-620 meters). The CT scan score  was 6.58±2.60 (3-13)out of 24. Age and functional dyspnea showed a significant reverse association with 6MWT, although SPO2% before and after 6MWT showed a straight association (p-value< 0.05). There was no significant association between 6MWT and BMI, heart rate, gender, or score of pulmonary involvement CT scan(p-value > 0.05).Conclusion: 6MWT is a simple and benefit  tool for prediction physical pulmonary function. Exertional  dyspnea and Spo2%  showed adverse effect before and after walking in 6MWT in Covid 19 patients recovery .

Six Minute Walk Test in Covid 19 Recovery Patients Keywords:

6 Minute Walk Test , Oxygen saturation , Post Covid recovery , Pulmonary function