Letter to the Editor: Improving the reliability of functional capacity testing in liver cirrhosis: A novel assessment direction

Abstract

I am delighted to read the intriguing observational study published in the recent issue of the World Journal of Hepatology by Corrêa et al. In this study, 6-minute walking test (6MWT) was assessed in patients with liver disease and showed significant reliability. Therefore, such physical exercise requires more objective rather than subjective variables, e.g., shortness of breath, walking distance, heart rate, etc. Therefore, this letter to the editor will add objective testing in different directions to document the inter-rater reliability of 6MWT. These tests include the determination of the levels of exerkines (myokines) following 6MWT in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC). The compatibility between laboratory findings and the functional capacity following 6MWT will improve the reliability of this test; otherwise, more research is important to prove the benefit and reliability of 6MWT in improving the functional capacity in LC.

Keywords: Liver cirrhosis; 6-minute walking test; Myokines

Core Tip: The six-minute walking test (6MWT) is useful in the assessment of functional capacity in a wide variety of diseases, including liver cirrhosis (LC). The development of sarcopenia is one cause of the deterioration of functional capacity in LC, and it is linked to a decline in the regulators of muscle growth. Therefore, the determination of the exerkine (myokine) levels, e.g., irisin, myostatin, and follistatin, as a supplement to the 6MWT, is of value in supporting the assessment of the functional capacity in LC.