Introduction:

The assessment of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis is useful to establish health intervention goals. The 6-minute walk test is key to observing the response of all of the body systems involved in the exercise.

Objective:

To describe the physiological response of some ventilatory and cardiovascular variables during the 6-minute walk test in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae and possible correlations between physiological variables and the covered distance.

Materials and methods:

Descriptive cross-sectional study on 21 patients diagnosed with sequelae caused by pulmonary tuberculosis, who attended a pulmonary rehabilitation program and performed a 6-minute walk test.

Results:

The mean age of patients was 49.33±18.82 years, mostly men, and the mean distance was 348.35±127833 m. There was a significant difference in heart rate, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation during the four analyzed moments, with a p value < 0.0001. There was a strong correlation for age, oxygen consumption (VO2), number of stops, dyspnea modified Medical Research Council (mMRC), functional capacity measured as metabolic equivalents (METS) and oxygen saturation (SpO2).

Conclusion:

Most male patients with pulmonary tuberculosis sequelae show statistically significant changes during the test.

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