Efficiency of the home cardiac rehabilitation program for adults with complex congenital heart disease

We aimed to study the efficiency and safety of once-a-week outpatient rehabilitation followed by home program with tele-monitoring in patients with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease.

Prospective nonrandomized study.

Patients who have been diagnosed either Eisenmenger's syndrome or inoperable complex cyanotic heart disease and able to attend 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program were included. Training with treadmill walking and bicycling under supervision at cardiac rehabilitation unit once-a-week in the first 6 weeks followed by home-based exercise program (bicycle and walking) with a target at 40%-70% of maximum heart rate (HRmax) at pretraining peak exercise for another 6 weeks was performed in the intervention group. Video and telephone calls were scheduled for evaluation of compliance and complication. Data from cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) on cycle ergometry including peak oxygen consumption (peakVO2 ), oxygen pulse (O2 pulse), ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide (VE/CO2 at anaerobic threshold), constant work-rate endurance time (CWRET) at 75% of peak VO2 , and 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) were compared between baseline and after training by paired t test.

Of the 400 patients in our adult congenital heart disease clinic, 60 patients met the inclusion criteria. Eleven patients who could follow program regularly were assigned home program. There was a statistically significant improvement of CWRET, O₂ pulse, and 6MWD after finishing the program (P = .003, .039, and .001, respectively). The mean difference of 6MWD change in the home-program group was significantly higher than in the control group (69.3 ± 47.9 meters vs. 4.1 ± 43.4 meters, P = .003). No serious adverse outcomes were reported during home training.

Once-a-week outpatient hospital-based exercise program followed by supervised home-based exercise program showed a significant benefit in improvement of exercise capacity in adults with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease without serious adverse outcomes.