INTRODUCTION: Some functional tests are used as a complement to the dynamic evaluation in the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), such as the six-minute gait test (GT6). OBJECTIVES: To verify how much the degree of obstruction compromises the tolerance to the exertion evaluated by the GT6 and to compare the distances completed and expected through the equation by Enright and Sherrill (1998) for healthy individuals as well as the ones with COPD presenting mild, moderate and severe degrees of obstruction, besides to compare the completed distance among groups. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 90 male individuals were evaluated, being 19 healthy (group 1-G1, mean age 67 ± 6.6 years); 24 individuals with COPD presenting mild obstruction (group 2-G2, mean age 69 ± 11.3 years); 26 with moderate COPD (group 3-G3, mean age 71 ± 9.1 years) and 21 with severe COPD (group 4-G4, mean age 70 ± 9.4 years) concerning the completed distance, besides the distance expected through the equation. RESULTS: Significant difference was observed (t-Student test, < 0.05) when comparing completed and expected distances for G3 (387 + 71 m vs 456 ± 56 m) and G4 (318 ± 97 m vs 477 ± 52 m), being the completed distance shorter than the expected one for both. In the inter group analysis, concerning the completed distance significant difference was verified (ANOVA, < 0.05), where G1 (506 ± 56 m) and G2 (452 ± 60 m) presented higher values (Newman-Keuls, < 0.05) than G3 (387 ± 71 m) and G4 (318 ± 97 m), as well as G3 higher than G4. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the higher the limitation to the air flow, the lower the tolerance to physical exertion. However, healthy individuals and the ones with mild COPD obtained similar performance, besides having similar completed and expected distances. Thus, the GT6 allows us to evaluate the functional capacity of healthy individuals and the ones with COPD, estimating how much the degree of obstruction of the air flow compromises physical performance.
Functional tests; Completed distance; Expected distance
