Are first ventilatory threshold and 6-minute walk test heart rate interchangeable? A pilot study in healthy elderlies and cardiac patients

{Background: Heart rate (HR) at the ventilatory threshold (VT) is often used to prescribe exercise intensity in cardiac rehabilitation. Some studies have reported no significant difference between HR at VT and HR measured at the end of a 6-min walk test (6-MWT) in cardiac patients. The aim of this work was to assess the potential equivalence between those parameters at the individual level. Method: Three groups of subjects performed a stress test and a 6-MWT: 22 healthy elderlies (GES, 77 +/- 3.7 years), 10 stable coronary artery disease (CAD) patients (GMI, 50.9 +/- 4.2 years) and 30 patients with chronic heart failure (GHF, 63.3 +/- 10 years). We analyzed the correlation, mean bias, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of the mean bias and the magnitude of the bias between 6-MWT-HR and VT-HR. Results: There was a significant difference between 6-MWT and VT-HR in GHF (99.1 +/- 8.8 vs 91.6 +/- 18.6 bpm