After resting for 20 minutes, the children were instructed to walk as far as possible for six minutes without running, knowing that they could interrupt

the test at any time. They were verbally encouraged at every minute, according to the standardization, and at the end of the six minutes, they were asked to stop where they were and the total distance in meters was Trichostatin A recorded. The parameters evaluated in the pre- and post-test included heart rate (HR) and pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2) by pulse oximetry (EMAI, model OXP-10 Medical Hospital Equipment – São Paulo, Brazil), blood pressure through a sphygmomanometer (CE0050, Tycos, Welch Allyn – Skaneateles Falls, New York, United States), respiratory rate (RR) MEK inhibitor (counted by chest wall movements per minute), and the score in the modified Borg scale to measure dyspnea intensity.16 The criteria for test

interruption were: severe dyspnea or fatigue expressed by the patient, SpO2 < 85%, or refusal to continue the test. Based on the reference values suggested by Priesnitz et al.17 for healthy Brazilian children, the predicted walked distance in the 6MWT was calculated for children with asthma using the formula 6MWT = 145.343 + [11.78 × Age (years)] + [292.22 × height (m)] + [0.611 × (HR Final-HR Initial)] - [2.684 × weight (kg)] for evaluation of test performance. The choice of this formula is justified by the Methane monooxygenase fact

that it is the only equation developed for Brazilian children, even though it was designed for healthy individuals. Furthermore, the predicted distance calculation takes into account other variables that were evaluated in the study, including age, height, and weight. Based on these values, the mean difference between the distance walked by the patient in the 6MWT (DWpat) and the predicted walked distance (DWpred) were obtained. QoL assessment was performed using the Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAQLQ), validated for Portuguese.18 The PAQLQ contains 23 questions for the age group of 7 to 17 years, and comprises three domains: symptoms (ten questions), physical activity limitations (five questions), and emotions (eight questions). Questions are asked in person, without the presence of parents, and were directed to the patient’s experiences in the week prior to interview. The assessment is measured through a seven-point response scale, where 1 indicates maximum impairment, and 7, no impairment; thus, the higher the final value, the better the patient’s QoL.18 and 19 The results were expressed as the means of total scores. For numerical variables that showed an approximately normal distribution, data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. Categorical variables were expressed as percentages. Student’s t-test was used for comparison of means.