Effects of home-based training at dyspnea threshold in children surgically repaired for congenital heart disease

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Pediatric Exercise Physiology
• Rehabilitation

Background:

• Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) often experience reduced cardiorespiratory fitness post-surgery.
• Assessing exercise intensity using the dyspnea threshold (DT) is a potential strategy for this population.
• Understanding the relationship between DT and ventilatory threshold (VT) is crucial for effective training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of home-based training on cardiorespiratory responses in surgically corrected children with CHD.
• To investigate the effectiveness of using the dyspnea threshold (DT) as a training intensity.
• To compare DT with the ventilatory threshold (VT) in this cohort.

Main Methods:

• An exercise protocol was administered to 23 children with CHD and 12 healthy controls to assess aerobic capacity, VT, and DT.
• The CHD group was divided into trained and untrained subgroups for a 2-month home-based training intervention at DT intensity.
• Dyspnea was monitored using a visual analog scale throughout the exercise and recovery periods.

Main Results:

• Children surgically corrected for CHD exhibited lower aerobic capacity compared to controls.
• No significant differences were found between VT and DT in the CHD group, indicating a strong relationship.
• Two months of home-based training at DT intensity did not substantially enhance aerobic capacity or alter the VT-DT relationship.

Conclusions:

• Children with surgically corrected CHD have impaired aerobic capacity.
• The dyspnea threshold (DT) is closely related to the ventilatory threshold (VT) in this population.
• Home-based training at DT intensity shows limited efficacy in improving aerobic capacity in children with CHD, warranting further investigation.