E-Health Exercise Intervention for Pediatric Patients with Congenital Heart Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective To improve health-related physical fitness (HRPF) (primary outcome) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) with a web-based motor intervention program in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease (CHD). Study design Overall, 70 patients (13.0 +/- 2.6 years; 34% girls) aged 10-18 years with moderate or complex CHD severity were randomly allocated 1:1 to an intervention or control group. The intervention group trained 3 times per week for 20 minutes in a web-based exercise program over a period of 24 weeks. The control group followed lifestyle per usual. At baseline and follow-up HRPF was assessed via 5 tasks of the FITNESSGRAM and converted to a HRPF z score. HRQoL was assessed with KINDL self-report questionnaire. Results In total, 61 patients completed the follow-up. There was no change in total HRPF z score (intervention group: 0.14 +/- 0.38 vs control group: 0.09 +/- 0.38, P = .560) and total HRQoL (intervention group: -1.73 +/- 8.33 vs control group: 1.31 +/- 7.85, P = .160) after the 24-week web-based exercise intervention. This was true for all subcategories of HRPF and HRQoL. There were no adverse events associated with the web-based exercise intervention. Conclusions We found that 24 weeks of web-based exercise intervention with an aimed volume of 60 minutes of exercise per week was safe but did not improve HRPF and HRQoL in children with moderate or complex CHD.