Pharmacological trials including patients with more severe heart failure were more likely to show a significant improvement with therapy than trials of milder heart failure .
Using mean values in these trials , the age of patients appeared a more important determinant of 6MWT distance than New York Heart Association classification .
The 6MWT has not yet been proven to be a robust test for the identification of effective pharmacological interventions although it appears useful for the assessment of cardiac resynchronization therapy .
The results of the 6MWT were concordant with changes in symptoms , suggesting that it may be used as supportive evidence for symptom benefit .
AIMS The 6 min walk test ( 6MWT ) is commonly used in clinical trials to assess treatments for heart failure , but its ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective treatments is question able .
The aim of this study is to investigate , using a systematic literature review , the utility of the 6MWT as a measure of the effectiveness of treatment in r and omized controlled trials of heart failure .
Comparison of the effects of cilazapril and captopril versus placebo on exercise testing in chronic heart failure patients: a double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial. The Cilazapril-Captopril Multicenter Group.
In order to compare directly the efficacy of two different angiotensin-converting enzyme ( ACE ) inhibitors in terms of clinical status and exercise capacity , 443 patients with chronic heart failure ( New York Heart Association classes II-IV ) were r and omized into a 24-week double-blind study to receive cilazapril ( CLZ ) 1 - 2.5 mg once daily ( n = 221 ) , captopril ( CPT ) 25 - 50 mg three times daily ( n = 108 ) , or placebo ( PLA ) for 12 weeks followed by CLZ 2.5 mg ( n = 114 ) in addition to their st and ard heart failure therapy . The majority were New York Heart Association functional class II ( 56 - 62 % ) , and the most frequent etiology of chronic heart failure was coronary heart disease ( 35 - 42 % ) , followed by dilative cardiomyopathy ( approximately 28 % ) . Both ACE inhibitors prolonged the exercise tolerance test duration at all visits , and the effect at week 12 ( CLZ 62.2 + /- 7.5 s ; CPT 73.1 + /- 10.7 s ) was significantly greater than after PLA ( 28.1 + /- 12.2 s ; p = 0.011 and p = 0.005 , respectively ) . Furthermore , the distance walked during 6 min increased at all visits with ACE inhibitors ( NS vs. PLA ) . CLZ was more effective in patients with the most impaired physical ability at baseline as defined by exercise tolerance test duration < or = 6 min ( p = 0.0036 at week 12 and p = 0.0150 at week 24 ) and by walking test < or = 400 m ( p = 0.0004 at week 12 and p = 0.0009 at week 24 ) . Similar results were obtained with CPT for the walking test ( p = 0.0369 at week 12 and p = 0.0142 at week 24 ) . ( ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS
Pharmacological trials including patients with more severe heart failure were more likely to show a significant improvement with therapy than trials of milder heart failure .
Using mean values in these trials , the age of patients appeared a more important determinant of 6MWT distance than New York Heart Association classification .
The 6MWT has not yet been proven to be a robust test for the identification of effective pharmacological interventions although it appears useful for the assessment of cardiac resynchronization therapy .
The results of the 6MWT were concordant with changes in symptoms , suggesting that it may be used as supportive evidence for symptom benefit .
AIMS The 6 min walk test ( 6MWT ) is commonly used in clinical trials to assess treatments for heart failure , but its ability to distinguish between effective and ineffective treatments is question able .
The aim of this study is to investigate , using a systematic literature review , the utility of the 6MWT as a measure of the effectiveness of treatment in r and omized controlled trials of heart failure .