6-minute walk testing is more sensitive than maximal incremental cycle testing for detecting oxygen desaturation in patients with COPD.

Study Objectives: Some respiratory patients exhibit oxygen desaturation during rehabilitative walking but not during maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). We evaluated exercise-induced desaturation during 6-min walk testing (6MWT) in comparison with CPET in patients with COPD and determined the reproducibility of the phenomenon.

Patients: We tested 80 consecutive patients with COPD (FEV(1), 62.