Abstract
Objectives
The main purpose of the present meta-analysis was to examine the criterion-related validity of the distance- and time-based walk/run tests for estimating cardiorespiratory fitness among apparently healthy children and adults.
Materials and Methods
Relevant studies were searched from seven electronic bibliographic databases up to August 2015 and through other sources. The Hunter-Schmidt’s psychometric meta-analysis approach was conducted to estimate the population criterion-related validity of the following walk/run tests: 5,000 m, 3 miles, 2 miles, 3,000 m, 1.5 miles, 1 mile, 1,000 m, ½ mile, 600 m, 600 yd, ¼ mile, 15 min, 12 min, 9 min, and 6 min.
Results
From the 123 included studies, a total of 200 correlation values were analyzed. The overall results showed that the criterion-related validity of the walk/run tests for estimating maximum oxygen uptake ranged from low to moderate (rp = 0.42–0.79), with the 1.5 mile (rp = 0.79, 0.73–0.85) and 12 min walk/run tests (rp = 0.78, 0.72–0.83) having the higher criterion-related validity for distance- and time-based field tests, respectively. The present meta-analysis also showed that sex, age and maximum oxygen uptake level do not seem to affect the criterion-related validity of the walk/run tests.
Conclusions
When the evaluation of an individual’s maximum oxygen uptake attained during a laboratory test is not feasible, the 1.5 mile and 12 min walk/run tests represent useful alternatives for estimating cardiorespiratory fitness. As in the assessment with any physical fitness field test, evaluators must be aware that the performance score of the walk/run field tests is simply an estimation and not a direct measure of cardiorespiratory fitness.
Citation: Mayorga-Vega D, Bocanegra-Parrilla R, Ornelas M, Viciana J (2016) Criterion-Related Validity of the Distance- and Time-Based Walk/Run Field Tests for Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. PLoS ONE 11(3):
e0151671.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151671
Editor: Diego Fraidenraich, Rutgers University -New Jersey Medical School, UNITED STATES
Received: October 28, 2015; Accepted: March 2, 2016; Published: March 17, 2016
Copyright: © 2016 Mayorga-Vega et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Funding: Daniel Mayorga-Vega is an FPU [Formación del Profesorado Universitario] fellow; research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (AP2010-5905). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Description
This study evaluates the validity of walk/run tests for estimating cardiorespiratory fitness.