Evaluation of cardiorespiratory and perceptive variables during the shuttle walk testing. Reproducibility and validity study in obese women

Abstract

Introduction: The obesity leads to a significant damage of functional capacity and, therefore, quality of life. This context, functional assessment is a useful tool in risk stratification, as well as in physical activity prescription, which has been one of the ways of non-pharmacological treatment. However, the adaptation of these patients in ergometers commonly used in clinical practice (bike and treadmills) has limited useful. Thus, the incremental Shuttle Walk Test (SWT) could be used due to its similarity to the walking act in the plan. Moreover, to our knowledge, studies on the reproducibility and validity of this test in the obese population, as well as the cardiorespiratory responses are similar to tests on a treadmill. Objectives: Thereby, our objective will be to test the reproducibility of SWT and validity in obese women. Moreover, a secondary objective will be to evaluate cardiorespiratory variables, subjective perception of dyspnea and fatigue of the lower limbs in obese adult women. Methodology: Will be evaluated 45 women stratified into 3 groups of obesity according body mass index, and 20 women of normal weight. All volunteer will be submitted to clinical evaluation, anthropometric and of body composition, function pulmonary tests, maximal exercise testing, of the heart rate variability analysis, and three SWT, two on the same day with minimum interval of 30 minutes between them and the third with minimum interval of three days, to test its reproducibility. Blood pressure, heart rate and Borg scale be measured before and after the tests.Expected results: We expect that the SWT can be reproducible and provide normative values in this population. Additionally, it is expected that the cardiorespiratory responses, metabolic, autonomic and subjective be comparable to an incremental test in treadmill.