Publications by authors named "Stefanie Houde"
Article Synopsis
- The 6-minute walk test (6MWT) is a measure used to assess functional capacity in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), and researchers investigated if existing healthy population norms apply to CHF patients.
- A study with 213 newly admitted CHF patients in Montreal found that the percent predicted value (PPV) of the 6MWD correlated more strongly with quality of life measures compared to 6MWD alone.
- The findings suggest that using 6MWD without standardization could lead to misleading severity assessments in CHF patients across different demographics (age, gender, and BMI) and advocate for applying norm-referenced equations for more accurate comparisons.
Background: Specialized, multidisciplinary clinics improve service provision and reduce morbidity for patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Although sex-related differences in access to cardiac health services have been reported, it remains unclear whether there are sex-related differences in the use of these specialized services.
Objectives: To evaluate possible sex-related differences in severity at entry into specialized, multidisciplinary clinics, and compare prescription patterns between male and female patients at these clinics.