The Limitations of the 6-Minute Walk Test as a Measurement Tool in Chronic Heart Failure Patients.

We thank Ganga and Jantz for their interest in our article. sessment of functional capacity in heart failure is complex; ailable tools are the 6-minute walk test (6MWT), functional ass, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing with gas exchange easurements, but each of them evaluates a specific aspect of nctional status and their interpretations are complementary. Any limitations of the interpretation of the 6MWT related to morbidities are likewise applicable to tests involving oxygen nsumption. A number of the clinical trials carried out to study heart failure ve used the 6MWT as the primary endpoint for evaluating the fectiveness of a given treatment and the beneficial effects on the mptoms. Likewise, in the study of pulmonary hypertension, mparable to heart failure because of its impact on quality of life, the WT is the only test approved for the assessment of functional class d is the primary endpoint in the assessment of exercise capacity. The evaluation of functional capacity using the New York Heart sociation (NYHA) functional classification is a subjective assessent from the perspective of the physician that does not correlate rfectly with other patient-centered outcomes, such as quality of e and the 6MWT. Like other authors, we did not include the HA class in the model because of the risk of its collinearity with e dependent variable, that is, the 6MWT distance. Efforts to investigate evaluation methods that provide more formation on functional aspects are undoubtedly necessary.