Key result
Exercise training safely improves exercise capacity, motor skills, and quality of life in pediatric CHD.
Why the study?
Children and adolescents with CHD should be encouraged to adopt a physically active lifestyle, but those with complex CHD or other risk factors may need specific individualized training programs.
Do sports, exercise training, and physical activity improve exercise capacity, motoric skills, and quality of life in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease?
Do sports, exercise training, and physical activity improve exercise capacity, motoric skills, and quality of life in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease?
Sports and exercise training are safe and effective for improving physical capacity, motor skills, and quality of life in children with congenital heart disease, supporting recommendations for active lifestyles.
Supports recommending exercise training for children with congenital heart disease; confirms safety and efficacy via Level 1 synthesis.
Children and adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) should be encouraged to adopt a physically active lifestyle, ideally by participating in sports activities at school and sports clubs. Children with complex CHD or other risk factors (for example, pacemakers, cardioverter-defibrillators, channelopathies) may, however, need specific individualized training programs. This review article summarizes the current knowledge regarding the clinical effects of sports and exercise training on CHD and its pathophysiologic mechanisms. An evidence-based approach based on a literature search, using PubMed, Medline, CINHAL, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was conducted, last completed on 30 December 2021. In studies with 3256 CHD patients in total, including 10 randomized controlled trials, 14 prospective interventional trials, 9 observational trials, and 2 surveys, exercise training has been shown to improve exercise capacity and physical activity, motoric skills, muscular function, and quality of life. Sports and exercise training appears to be effective and safe in CHD patients. Despite being cost-efficient, training programs are currently scarcely reimbursed; therefore, support from healthcare institutions, commissioners of healthcare, and research-funding institutions is desirable. There is a strong need to establish specialized rehabilitation programs for complex CHD patients to enhance these patients' access to this treatment intervention. Further studies may be desirable to confirm these data to investigate the impact on risk profiles and to identify the most advantageous training methodology and underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Dold et al. (2023) conducted a review in Congenital heart disease (n=3,256). Sports, exercise training, and physical activity vs. No training or standard care (varies by included study) was evaluated. Sports and exercise training are safe and effective in children with congenital heart disease, improving exercise capacity, motor skills, muscular function, and quality of life.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: