Authors
Renske Meijer, Goof Schep, Marta Regis, Femke de Jager, Anouk T R Weemaes, Bart C Bongers, Lonneke V van de Poll-Franse, Hans H C M Savelberg, Martijn van Hooff
Published in
American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitation. Jun 02, 2026. Epub Jun 02, 2026.
Abstract
To evaluate criterion and construct validity of field exercise tests and patient-reported questionnaires compared with cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in clinical rehabilitation.
Participants were included at the start of a cardiopulmonary or oncologic rehabilitation program. All patients performed a CPET, steep ramp test (SRT), and 6-minute walk test (6-MWT) and completed the Duke activity status index (DASI), veterans-specific activity questionnaire (VSAQ), and FitMáx© questionnaire (FitMáx). Work rate at peak exercise at the SRT (SRT-WRpeak), distance walked at the 6-MWT (6-MWD), and oxygen uptake at peak exercise (VO2peak) estimated by the questionnaires were compared with measured VO2peak during CPET.
Sixty-nine patients (57% female) were included, with a median (IQR) age of 58 (46-66) years. Correlations of SRT-WRpeak and 6-MWD with CPET-VO2peak were ρ=0.87 (95%-CI 0.78-0.92) and ρ=0.40 (95%-CI 0.17-0.58), respectively. Correlations of DASI-VO2peak, VSAQ-VO2peak, and FitMáx-VO2peak with CPET-VO2peak were ρ=0.37 (95%-CI 0.13-0.56), ρ=0.51 (95%-CI 0.30-0.68), and ρ=0.78 (95%-CI 0.65-0.87), respectively.
SRT-WRpeak and FitMáx-VO2peak strongly correlated with CPET-VO2peak, whereas the 6-MWD, DASI-VO2peak and VSAQ-VO2peak showed a moderate correlation. Consequently, the SRT and FitMáx are considered the best alternative exercise test and questionnaire to estimate CRF when CPET is not feasible.
PMID:
42296456
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Jun 2026.
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