Six Minute Walk Test to assess functional capacity in chronic liver disease patients

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of the four groups of subjects enrolled in the study (mean ± SD)

Variable		Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
		(n = 45)	(n = 48)	(n = 58)	(n = 98)
Age (yr)		35 ± 9	38 ± 12	48 ± 12	57 ± 12
Gender (M:F)		22/23	22/27	42/16	64/34
BMI		28.0 ± 6.3	33.3 ± 20.6	30.0 ± 6.4	26.9 ± 5.3
HR/min	Baseline	-	78 ± 12	85 ± 14	84 ± 17
	End	-	86 ± 13	94 ± 17	92 ± 19
O2 %	Baseline	-	98.1 ± 1.0	96.7 ± 9.3	97.8 ± 1.75
	End	-	98.2 ± 0.76	98.1 ± 1.1	97.1 ± 2.8
BS	Baseline	-	0.11 ± 0.45	0.07 ± 0.24	0.66 ± 1.34
	End	-	0.53 ± 0.73	0.98 ± 1.34	1.68 ± 2.00
6MWD (m)		421 ± 47	390 ± 53	357 ± 72	306 ± 111
Hemoglobin (g/L)		-	128.7 ± 44.1	136.2 ± 20.3	94.9 ± 54.6
Albumin (g/L)		-	37.9 ± 6.1	37.6 ± 6.3	28.3 ± 6.8
ALT (U/L)		-	128.5 ± 232.2	89.7 ± 54.2	86.2 ± 63.1
AST (U/L)		-	55.8 ± 70.2	56.4 ± 34.0	94.8 ± 76.9
GGT (U/L)		-	47.7 ± 50.0	101.6 ± 83.3	164.6 ± 225.2
ALP (U/L)		-	96.7 ± 36.4	102.8 ± 42.1	180.7 ± 129.4
Bilirubin (μmol/L)		-	11.1 ± 6.3	14.9 ± 12.8	44.0 ± 58.9
Creatinine (μmol/L)		-	70.3 ± 21.4	68.0 ± 16.6	86.8 ± 39.1

ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; AP: alkaline phosphatase; BMI: body mass index; BS: Borg scale; HR: heart rate; GGT: gamma glutamyl transpeptidase.

Table 2 Characteristics of liver cirrhosis patients in terms of those who survived and those who had died during the study period

Variable		Non-survivors (n = 15)	Survivors (n = 83)	P
Age (yr)		61 ± 10	55 ± 11	0.064
CP score		10.0 ± 2.3	8.5 ± 2.2a	0.016
6MWD (m)		245 ± 145	317 ± 101a	0.021
O2%	Baseline	97.3 ± 1.7	97.9 ± 1.5	0.21
	End	97.4 ± 3.0	97.2 ± 1.6	0.64
Hemoglobin (g/L)		114.7 ± 14.7	127.6 ± 17.7b	0.009
Prothrombin time (s)		16.1 ± 5.6	16.5 ± 4.5	0.82
ALT (U/L)		90.5 ± 82.7	85.4 ± 59.5	0.77
AST (U/L)		107.1 ± 62.6	92.3 ± 79.4	0.50
ALP (U/L)		242.2 ± 141.8	169.5 ± 124.7	0.45
Albumin (g/L)		24.2 ± 5.6	29.0 ± 6.6a	0.011
Bilirubin (μmol/L)		67.4 ± 65.1	40.1 ± 56.9	0.098
Creatinine (μmol/L)		114.4 ± 86.0	81.7 ± 18.0b	0.002

ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; ALP: alkaline phosphatase; CP: Child Pugh; GGT: gamma glutamyl transpeptidase.

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.01 vs non-survivors.

Table 3 Variables associated with survival according to univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis

	Variable	Hazard ratio (95% CI)	P
UV	CP Score	1.349 (1.062-1.713)	0.014
UV	6MWD	0.995 (0.991-0.999)	0.027
UV	Albumin	0.901 (0.829-0.978)	0.013
UV	Hemoglobin	0.966 (0.941-0.992)	0.012
UV	ALP	1.003 (1.000-1.005)	0.042
UV	Creatinine	1.016 (1.007-1.024)	< 0.0001
MV	6MWD	0.994 (0.989-0.998)	0.024
MV	ALP	1.003 (1.000-1.006)	0.027
MV	Creatinine	1.018 (1.009-1.027)	< 0.0001

ALP: alkaline phosphatase, CP: Child Pugh, MV: multivariate analysis, UV: univariate analysis. Variables not found to be associated with survival excluded from the table.