6-APP Study v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of a new 6 minute walk test smartphone app in patients with pulmonary hypertension
IRAS ID
229520
Contact name
Elizabeth Orchard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
The six-minute walk test (6MWT) is a standard method for measuring exercise capacity in patients with cardiopulmonary disease such as pulmonary hypertension (PHT). The 6MWT measures how far a patient can walk in 6 minutes. By assessing patients' ability to exercise, the 6MWT provides a global assessment of respiratory, cardiovascular, cognitive and neuromuscular functions. The 6MWT allows the patient to exercise at a daily functional level, and is a useful tool for assessing changes after a therapeutic intervention, and correlates with a subjective improvement in dyspnea.
The test is usually performed in hospital, by walking along a hospital corridor, where many factors on the day of the test can affect patients' performance, including tiredness, unfamiliarity with the environment or anxiety. The test typically requires 2 physiologists to monitor the distance walked and oxygen saturations by pulse oximetry, and to record symptoms felt during the test.
To improve the assessment of a patient's exercise capacity using a 6MWT, we hypothesized that the test would reflect more the patient's functional status, if it were undertaken prior to the hospital outpatient appointment. We have designed a mobile-phone “app” that allows patients to perform the 6MWT within the patient’s home environment. By utilizing biometric collection devices such as a pulse oximeter monitor with Bluetooth capability, the app can be used to measure the oxygen saturation levels in the blood from patients, and transmit them to a secure server, allowing them to be reviewed by cardiologists and other healthcare professionals. This study aims at demonstrating that patients are able and willing to use the app for the 6MWT and the measurements obtained by the app are comparable to the ones obtained in hospital.REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/WM/0355
Date of REC Opinion
17 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion