Respiratory medicine
-
Respiratory medicine · Aug 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyDetecting oxygen desaturation in patients with COPD: incremental versus endurance shuttle walking.
There has been no direct comparison between an incremental and endurance walking test to detect the relative oxygen desaturation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This is of some importance as current guidelines have suggested that ambulatory oxygen should only be prescribed after a standard assessment and desaturation documented. No clear advice about the nature of the required exercise task is given. This study therefore compared the relative desaturation between the incremental shuttle walking test (ISWT) and the constant speed walking test (ESWT) and response to ambulatory oxygen. ⋯ This study identifies that incremental and endurance walking provokes significant desaturation and that there is a short-term benefit of oxygen versus air in enhancing exercise performance. There was no significant difference in the level of desaturation between tests. Therefore the ISWT is a suitable exercise test that can be used to evaluate desaturation and is practically more realistic.