The minimal important difference in the 6-minute walk test for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Although commonly used as the primary outcome measure of clinical trials in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), the minimal important difference (MID) of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) has not been well defined for this population of patients.

Objectives

To estimate the MID in the 6MWT in patients with PAH.

Methods

Study subjects from the clinical trial of tadalafil in PAH, a 16-week, parallel-group, randomized clinical trial of patients who were treatment naive or on background therapy with an endothelin receptor antagonist, were eligible. 6MWT was performed using a standardized protocol. Distributional and anchor-based methods were used to estimate the MID; the latter method used the Physical Component Summary Score (PCS) of the Medical Outcomes Study 36

SUBMITTER: Mathai SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3443803 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature