Cardiopulmonary capacity in healthy subjects measured by direct method and field test

The six-minute walk test has been generally applied in people with pathologies and some studies have proposed models to predict maximum oxygen consumption. Our objective was to elaborate on an equation to predict the maximum oxygen consumption in the six-minute walking test for university students. A hundred and forty people participated in this study. The six-minute walking test was applied and after on a gradual exercise test was performed to determine the maximum oxygen consumption. A multivariate equation was developed and the analysis was done using the SPSS v.22 program (p < 0.05). The predictive model include gender, age, body mass index, distance performed and heart rate recovery (r = 0.83; p < 0.001). The equation fulfilled the assumptions of independence (p = 0.13), normality (p = 0.49) and homoscedasticity (p = 0.64). The Bland-Altman diagram indicated that there were no significant differences between the equation and the measurement of the maximum oxygen consumption (p = 0.89), with a confidence interval of 0.054 ml·kg·min-1 (95% CI [-0.72; 0.83]). The equation predicts the maximum oxygen consumption. It is suggested to evaluate university students considering biological and environmental differences between countries.