Analysis of changes in clinical characteristics of patients with COPD or interstitial pneumonia during a 6-minute walk test

Introduction: It is essential to characterize patients with dyspnea while walking. This experiment is one of the resources that can aid in gaining a better understanding of dyspnea while walking. Aims and Objectives: We aimed to determine the clinical characteristics of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and age- and oxygen saturation-matched patients with interstitial pneumonia (IP) during a 6-minute walk test, as a means for the assessment of dyspnea during walking. Methods: We studied 15 COPD patients (mean age: 70.3 ± 10.9 years, mean %FEV1: 54.7% ± 23.8%) and 16 IP patients (mean age: 71.8 ± 8.6 years, mean %VC 64.1% ± 16.3%). All performed a 6-minute walk test with a portable spirometer. VE, RR, VT, IC, SpO2, PR, and modified Borg scale were assessed. These parameters were used to identify the differences between COPD and IP and the changes over time within the groups. Results: An aspect characteristic of COPD was a significant decrease in IC before and after 6 min of walking (p Conclusion: During the 6-minute walk test, dynamic hyperinflation was observed with COPD but not with IP. Rapid shallow breathing was observed with IP but not with COPD. In addition, each characteristic was observed to appear within 3 min after the start of walking.