PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF INCREMENTAL SHUTTLE WALK TEST IN COPD SUBJECTS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW.
Keywords:
Exercise tolerance, exercise test, oxygen consumption, dyspnoea, heart rate, respiratory rate.
Background: Incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT) and endurance shuttle walk test (ESWT) are very commonly used as an alternative to evaluate functional capacity in clinical practice for individuals with COPD. However, the physiological responses provided during and after these tests are still poorly understood. Aim: to proceed a systematic review to evaluate the physiological responses during and after ISWT and ESWT in subjects with COPD. Methods: The search databases used were Medline, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science and Scopus. 4,071 abstracts were identified, 16 articles were included. The quality of the studies was evaluated by EPHPP. Results: 15 studies presented poor methodological quality according to EPHPP. 893 subjects with mild to severe COPD were evaluated. The studies that evaluated pre and post, heart rate and saturation of oxygen in two ISWTs, found significant differences in relation to baseline values, but not between them. The same behavior happened with blood pressure, dyspnoea and respiratory rate. The VO2peak compared between ISWT and ESWT presented similar values, with no statistical difference. In only one study, fatigue, dyspnea and minute ventilation also showed no significant variations. Only one article evaluated distance in the ESWT (384 ± 193 m) and ISWT (338 ± 102 m). The highest distance was observed in the study that the participants presented mild to moderate stage of COPD. Conclusion: most studies prioritized the ISWT. The knowledge of the physiological responses during the tests is limited, because not all the studies evaluate the variables pre, during and after tests to produce better comparison.