A Prospective Observational Study on Forced Expiratory Volume (FEV1) with Six Minute Walk Test in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a lung diseasecharacterized by chronic obstruction of lung airflow that interferes with normal breathing and is not fully reversible.World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that COPD will be the third leading cause of mortality and fifth leading cause of morbidity in 2020. So assessing the disease severity and treating it appropriately is of utmost importance. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare FEV1 with Six-minute walk test in COPD patients. Methods: It is a prospective observational study in which 110 patients were included out of which 6 of the patients got excluded as they were unable to complete the study, so the number of patients included is 104. In the initial visit patient was advised to undergo Six-minute walk test (6MWT) after assessing FEV1 value. After patients had taken the test, they were treated with medication and advised to visit the hospital for the follow up after 15 days. Results: From the analysis, there was increase in FEV1% with increase in six-minute walk distance. Conclusion: In conclusion according to study Six-minute walk test (6MWT) is a cost-effective modality which can assess the lung function and response to treatment in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Also, it shows significant positive correlation with FEV1. Therefore, it can be recommended as a screening modality to assess pulmonary function in patients suffering from COPD.