Improvement of physical activity training in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors: New specific equation to predict the peak oxygen uptake from the six-minute walk test

Purpose: The six-minute walk test (6MWT) is the most widely used test to assess the functional capacity of cancer patients. However, it is reported that the actual equations cannot accurately predict oxygen uptake (VO2 value) or walk distance (6MWD) in cancer survivors. Because of the importance for clinicians and physiologists to have a validated VO2 or 6MWD equation from the 6MWT to observe the predicted survivors’ value, we focused on the validation of a standard and specific equation to predict VO2 peak and 6MWD. Methods: A total of 200 survivors were enrolled in this study, among whom 168 participants underwent a cardiopulmonary exercise test and a 6MWT. They also completed a physical activity questionnaire. Participants were randomly divided in two groups to predict the equations (n=118 (70%)) and to validate them (n=50 (30%)). Multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine a new prediction equation for VO2 peak and 6MWD from 6MWT. Bland and Altman methods were used to assess the accuracy. Results: Our findings showed that without specific variables in the VO2 peak equation, the mean bias was of 2.67 mL.kg-1.min-1 and of 2.51 mL.kg-1.min-1 with specific variables. We observed a better accuracy compared to previously published equations, which reported a mean bias of 12.09 mL.kg-1.min-1. The same results were observed for the 6MWD. Conclusion: This was the first study to predict VO2 peak and 6MWD using clinical and specific variables related to the disease. Every health care professional and exercise physiologist should use both our validated equations to provide a better adapted physical training. Our findings strengthen the need to evaluate survivors’ cardiorespiratory fitness in the care process. Citation Format: Maxime Caru, Jennifer Labonte, Valerie Lemay, Simon Drouin, Laurence Bertout, Gregor Andelfinger, Nathalie Alos, Maja Krajinovic, Caroline Laverdiere, Daniel Sinnett, Daniel Curnier. Improvement of physical activity training in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors: New specific equation to predict the peak oxygen uptake from the six-minute walk test [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 17-20; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(14 Suppl):Abstract nr B61.