The minimally clinically important difference in the 2-minute walk test for people in the subacute phase after a stroke.

Background: The 2-Minute Walk Test (2MWT) is a simple and reliable test used by clinicians to assess gait function in people with stroke (pwST). No studies established the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the 2MWT.

Objective: To determine the MCID of the 2MWT in subacute pwST using data from a longitudinal cohort study.

Methods: PwST within 180 days of stroke onset were recruited from the Italian National Health System (NHS) rehabilitation services across the country. Participants underwent physical therapy to improve balance and gait according to their specific needs. The 2MWT was used to assess gait performance at the beginning (T0) and after a minimum of 10 rehabilitation sessions (T1). The Global Perceived Effect (GPE), Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC) and the ABC_gait were used to assess balance confidence and the perceived effect of the intervention at T1.

Results: 51 pwST (69 ± 12 years; 66.7% males) were included in the analysis. Statistically significant improvements were observed in 2MWT, ABC, and ABC_gait scores after rehabilitation using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Using an anchor-based approach the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to establish the MCID. The MCID of the 2MWT was 31 meters with an Area under the curve (AUC) = 0.74 [0.60-0.89], a specificity of 71% and a sensitivity of 63%.

Conclusions: An improvement of 31 meters on the 2MWT can be considered clinically significant in subacute pwST undergoing rehabilitation. This study provides valuable insights for clinicians to assess walking performance in pwST and determine clinically meaningful changes post-rehabilitation.