Validation of the child effort perception scale in a maximum potential exercise test

Background: Effort perception scales are important instruments used to evaluate the exercise limiting factors such as fatigue and dyspnoea in field exercise testing. However, there are few scales with validated psychometrics for children in Brazilian Portuguese language, which makes the effort symptoms measurement difficult during exercise in children. Objectives: To validate the Brazilian version of the perceived exertion scale for children (PES-C) during an exercise test in healthy children and with cystic fibrosis (CF). Methods: There were included two groups, healthy children (GHC) and CF (GCF), between 6 to 14 years old. There was applied the modified Borg scale (mBORG) and the PES-C during a modified shuttle walk test (MSWT): before the test (PES-Cb), minute 4 (PES-C4), minute 8 (PES-C8), and the end (PES-Ce). Results: participated in 32 children in GHC and 30 in GFC, with a mean age of 10.14±2.33 and 10.25±2.20 years old, respectively. In both groups, there was a moderate to a high correlation between the scales. The ICC two-way mixed model at PES-C8 was moderate in GHC(ICC=0.69/p= Conclusions: the PES-C showed correlation with mBORG, with evidently linear progression during the MSWT, in both groups. The PES-C on GHC seems reliable and valid in moments that require more demand during the MSWT. Regarding the GCF, this scale showed better reproducibility with the test progression.