Validation and Evaluation of the 6 minute walk mobile application
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The validation and evaluation of the 6 minute walk fitness app with clinical patients
IRAS ID
257503
Contact name
Liane Lewis
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Strathclyde
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN00000000
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 2 months, 31 days
Research summary
Over 1.5 million major surgeries are performed in the UK each year. For patients with poor physical fitness, major surgery can lead to extended stays at hospital, and risk of death. Being physically fitter before surgery is linked to shorter hospital stay, less complications during surgery, and lower risks of dying, and developing other diseases. Therefore, it is important to assess patients’ physical fitness prior to surgery to understand the risk to the patient. This can help inform the treatment of the patient, predict complications, and be used to refer patients for physical activity interventions to get fit before surgery. It provides a baseline level of the patients’ fitness which can be used to monitor progress of recovery. Accurate and valid assessments are not available at every clinic due to high costs and resources. Currently used assessment is a strenuous test for patients and can cause discomfort and anxiety. A better tolerated test is the 6 minute walk test, but it is not routinely used due to resources needed. However, this test can easily be done without clinical supervision. Results are easy to understand, for both clinician and patient. We developed the 6 minute walk test as a mobile application. This study will investigate its validity, and accuracy and evaluate its potential use in a clinical setting. Being able to pragmatically assess patients' fitness has large clinical value because it can provide a baseline value of fitness prior to major treatments such as surgery, and provide a pragmatic and accessible way to monitor progress of recovery after treatment. This can lead to better patient outcomes.
This study will investigate the validity, accuracy and acceptability of the tool (6 minute walk mobile application) with a clinical population.REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SC/0230
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion