Masking the 6-Minute Walking Test in the COVID-19 Era

• Published in: Annals of the American Thoracic Society Vol. 18; no. 6; pp. 1070 - 1074
• Main Authors: Salles-Rojas, Antonio, Guzmán-Valderrábano, Carlos, Madrid, Wilmer A, González-Molina, Amaury, Silva-Cerón, Mónica, Rodríguez-Hernández, Christian, Salas-Escamilla, Isabel, Castorena-Maldonado, Armando, López-García, Carlos Alberto, Torre-Bouscoulet, Luis, Gochicoa-Rangel, Laura
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Thoracic Society 01-06-2021
• Subjects: Adult; COVID-19; COVID-19 - prevention & control; Dyspnea - physiopathology; Fatigue - physiopathology; Female; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Hypoxia - physiopathology; Letters; Male; Masks; Middle Aged; N95 Respirators; Random Allocation; SARS-CoV-2; Walk Test - methods; Walking
• ISSN: 2329-6933; 2325-6621; 2325-6621
• DOI: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202009-1088RL

A study is presented which investigated whether two types of face mask modified the walking distance during the 6-MWT among survivors of COVID-19. The main finding of this study is that the mean difference in the 6-MWD when using either a surgical or N95 face mask compared with not wearing a face mask was -0.65 m, with a broad 95% limit of agreement; 84% of the subjects had agreement within MCSL. Surgical or N95-type face masks can be used during the 6-MWT, especially among those recovering from COVID-19, and the results regarding the meters walked as well as other variables, such as Sp02, HR, and degree of dyspnea, are similar to those obtained without using a face mask.