Reliability of a portable gas analyzer during a 5-min walk test.

Abstract

To determine the reliability of a gas analyzer while assessing oxygen consumption (.VO2) during a 5-min walking test. Forty healthy participants were connected to the KB1-C and walked for 5 mins on a 5-m walkway. Total .VO2 or energy expenditure (EE) was obtained by averaging the samples for each minute for 5 mins. of walking. Walk distance (D), gait speed (S), and gait energy cost (C) were also evaluated. The ICC(2,1) for EE, D, S, and C were 0.88, 0.92, 0.92, and 0.67, respectively. The coefficient of variation across trials for each variable was 7.4, 3.6, 3.2, and 9%, respectively. All but C generated high coefficients of reliability. All variables demonstrated acceptable test-retest variability. There was low variability between participants for C.