Six-minute walk distance (6MWD) is associated with body fat, systolic blood pressure, and rate-pressure product in community dwelling elderly subjects

This study aimed to determine if aerobic fitness assessed by 6MWD is able to predict resting cardiovascular function and cardiovascular disease risk factors (CVDRF). One hundred and five old individuals were analyzed: aerobic fitness (6MWD), body composition (DXA), blood pressure (BP), resting heart rate (HRrest) and rate-pressure product (RPPrest) were evaluated. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the relationship between 6MWD, resting cardiovascular function and CVDRF. To examine the shared variance between 6MWD, cardiac function, and CVDRF, linear regression analyses were employed. Inverse associations were observed between 6MWD and age (r = −0.405; p < 0.001), percent body fat (%BF) (r = −0.472; p < 0.001), trunk fat (r = −0.234; p = 0.020), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (r = −0.307; p = 0.002), HRrest (r = −0.248; p = 0.013), and RPPrest (r = −0.400; p < 0.001). In simple linear regressions, except the diastolic blood pressure (DBP), the 6MWD correlated (0.001 ≥ p ≤ 0.020) with all investigated parameters. When models were adjusted (for age and sex), the 6MWD remained associated with %BF (p < 0.001), SBP (0.002 ≥ p ≤ 0.009) and RPPrest (0.001 ≥ p ≤ 0.002). Our study reinforces the idea that a worse cardiovascular profile is related with lower fitness. Furthermore, it supports the potential of 6MWD to identify adverse outcomes such as %BF, increased SBP and higher RPPrest in older adults.