Aerobic Capacity And Physical Activity Level In Adults With Congenital Heart Disease

Abstract

PURPOSE: To study the Aerobic Capacity (AC) in adults with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and their physical activity (PA) level. METHODS: A cross sectional study with 93 adults (45 women 36,2±10,1 years; and 48 men 35,4±11,9 years) participated in the study. The AC was assessed by cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) using a modified Bruce protocol. Considering values of peak oxygen uptake (VO2Peak), participants were divided into four Fitness levels (FL) quartiles (Very Low, Low, Moderate and high) for each sex. Three categories of PA level (Health-Enhancing Physical Active (HEPA), Minimally active and Inactive) were obtained by the short International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) based on spending MET/minutes/week. Analysis of variance (ANOVA one way; post-hoc Bonferroni) to evaluate significant differences among FL and PA level were used. RESULTS: Significant differences appeared in VO2Peak between all FL groups for both sexes. In women the VO2Peak of the very low FL group was 18.5±2.8 ml/kg/min, Low FL 23.2±1.5, Moderate FL 27.6±2.2, and High FL 35.7±5.6 (P=0.001). In men the VO2Peak of the very low FL group was 22.1±3.7 ml/kg/min, Low FL 30.1±3.6, Moderate FL 34.9±4.7 and High FL 47.8±6.7 (P=0.001). No significant differences were observed among FL groups in terms of PA with a mean of 2659.3±2210.0 MET/minutes/week. However, the high FL group showed an upward trend in spending MET/min/week compared with the others groups. Thirty-two participants (34.4%) reported HEPA, 49 (52.7%) reported minimally active and 12 (12.9%) reported inactivity. CONCLUSION: Aerobic Capacity in adults with CHD was low compared to regular values in healthy population. These findings suggesting that when the goal is to improve aerobic capacity and prognosis of disease should be recommended increase PA. Future studies with a larger sample size are needed to determine level of PA appropriate to improve aerobic capacity in adults with CHD. Supported by SUR of DEC Generalitat de Catalunya and European Union 2019FI_BI 00168.