For the survival analyses, the distance covered in the 6-minute

walk test was again dichotomised at the median value, which was 468 m. The Kaplan-Meier curve showed a significantly lower survival probability for participants who walked ≤ 468 m, as presented in Figure 1. Similarly, the number of participants who survived and remained hospitalisation-free was significantly lower among those who walked ≤ 468 m, as presented SB431542 order in Figure 2. Three of our study findings seem to be of particular importance. We have shown that a short distance covered during the 6-minute walk test is an ominous sign in men with heart failure. The distance covered was shown to be associated with the stage of heart failure, and proved its prognostic value during both the 1-year and the 3-year analyses. Moreover, we observed that a shorter distance in the 6-minute walk test associated with high plasma NT-proBNP and uric acid increased the risk of ABT-888 clinical trial death or hospitalisation for cardiovascular reasons even more during the 1- and 3-year follow-up. Formal cardiopulmonary exercise testing is used as a direct indicator of physical capacity during the functional examination of heart failure patients

(Sarullo et al 2010, Poggio et al 2010, Corra et al 2012). However, this expensive specialist test is not available at many centres. Moreover, the functional status of a patient frequently precludes the performance of this test due to the required speed of movement. In such cases, exercise tolerance is analysed indirectly using a 6-minute walk test. The results of the 6-minute walk test correlated significantly with those of cardiopulmonary exercise testing. Thus, the 6-minute walk test constitutes a suitable alternative for cardiopulmonary exercise testing, with the added benefits

of being simple, well-tolerated, widely used, and possible to perform under any conditions (Zugck et al 2000, Carvalho et al 2011, Krevio et al 2004). Our finding new that a shorter 6-minute walk distance corresponded to the clinical stage of heart failure is consistent with those of other authors. A shorter distance covered in a 6-minute walk test has been documented in other individuals with higher NYHA class (Opasich et al 2001, Shah et al 2001), as well as in older people (Faggiano et al 2004), and people with renal dysfunction (Alahdab et al 2009). The 6-minute walk test distance can be used for stratification of cardiovascular mortality risk. Depending on the clinical characteristics of the heart failure patients examined, various cut-off values of the 6-minute walk test distance have proved their prognostic value (Cahalin et al 1996, Bettencourt et al 2000, Rubim et al 2006, Alahdab et al 2009).