ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2016 October;175(10):400-7

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Repeated short-time and continuous long-time walking tests in obese women

Wiliam R. GUESSOGO ^{1, 2, 3}, Abdou TEMFEMO ^{2, 3, 4}, Samuel H. MANDENGUE ^{2, 3, 4}, Peguy B. ASSOMO-NDEMBA ², André HAMADOU ¹, Laurent S. ETOUNDI-NGOA ⁵, Said AHMAIDI ³

¹ National Institute of Youth and Sports, Yaounde, Cameroon; ² Exercise and Sport Physiology Unit, Faculty of Sciences, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon; ³ Laboratoire EA3300, Adaptations Physiologiques à l’Exercice et Réadaptations à l’Effort (APERE), Faculty of Sport Sciences, Jules Verne University of Picardy, Amiens, France; ⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon; ⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, ENS Yaounde, Yaounde, Cameroon

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of repeated short-time and continuous long-time walking tests in obese women.
METHODS: One hundred and sixteen obese women, aged 28-59 years, completed two sessions of walking tests: repeated short time test which consisted of two 6-min walk tests [6MWT (6MWT1 and 6MWT2 separated by 6 min)] and continuous walk test formed of a 2 kilometer walk test (2kmWT). We determined pre- and post-sessions FEV1, FEV6, FEV1/FEV6 and SpO2. Heart rate (HR) was recorded continuously during each session. Performances were the distance for each 6MWT or time for the 2kmWT. The perception of effort was determined after each session. Data recorded during repeated 6MWT and 2kmWT sessions were compared.
RESULTS: The distances covered each minute remained similar over each 6MWT and no difference was observed between the distances covered during 6MWT1 and 6MWT2 (P˃0.05). HR increased during the 6MWT time with difference between 6MWT1 and 6MWT2 (P<0.05). The distances covered each minute during the 6MWT were similar to those of the 2kmWT. However, during 2kmWT, HR increases from the start to the 6th minute (P<0.01) and remained stable until the end of the test.
CONCLUSIONS: Neither repeated 6MWT nor 2KmWT influences acutely the lung indices in obese women. The 6MWT is reproducible and its repetition leads to an increase in peak heart rate accompanying an improvement in performance. Therefore, the practitioners could use repeated short-time exercise as repeated 6MWT during training programs for obese patients.