Cardiovascular performance after 5 months of exercise as prescription program: a 6 minute walking test and echocardiographic for functional assessment

Introduction: Exercise as Prescription represents a therapy in many chronic diseases. More recently the employment of the 6 Minute Walking Test (6MWT) for a regular evaluation has been spread. Aim: The study is aimed to verify the role of the 6MWT in predicting the progressive improvement of the heart performance. Methods: Eleven hypertensive patients, were enrolled for this study. At the beginning (T0) and after 5 months (T5) of exercise program, at least three times a week at moderate intensity, a 6MWT was carried out to evaluate: meters (m), Peak Heart Rate (PHR), Peak Respiratory Rate (PRR), Systolic and Diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP). In the same session an Echocardiographyc exam was performed. Results: all data are expressed as mean and standard deviation. After 5 months there was a trend: - the distance in 6 minutes was in T0: 567,27±66,65 m in T5: 599,09±81,42 m (p=<0.05), - PHR was in T0:134,36±12,13 b/min in T5:136,00±10,30 b/min (p=0.74), - PRR resulted in T0:30,00±4,38 r/min in T5:31,45±4,95 r/min (p=0.47), - SBP was in T0:137,73±14,89 mmHg in T5:143,64±12,67 mmHg (p=0.33), - DBP mean values were in T0:75,27±7,80 mmHg in T5:70,91±5,84 mmHg (p=0.15).The CMI resulted to significantly (p<0.05) increased after 5 months of regular exercise Conclusions: exercise as prescription improves the effort tolerance showed by the HR response at the peak of the exercise, with an increase of CMI parameter. The 6 MWT seems to be a sensible test much more than echo parameters whose modifications need a longer period of observation. Otherwise the pulmonary response to the exercise does not seem to be apparently easily estimated in presence of exercise program at moderate intensity.