About this Research Topic
Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) remains the most common birth defect, affecting almost 1% of newborns globally. Many patients with CHD require one or multiple surgical procedures and/or catheter interventions during their life span. For adult patients with heart disease, cardiac rehabilitation programs are part of the post-operative management as recommended by the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology.
In the pediatric age, post-operative rehabilitation is performed mainly in the post-acute in-patient setting as for adults’. However, no specific recommendations about exercise training is provided at discharge in children. For younger children, age might be a limiting factor but age-appropriate recommendations would contribute to continue the post-operative rehabilitation conditioning phase, help support motor skills development in younger children, and facilitate the return to their previous level of functioning.
Currently, exercise training is not part of the traditional management of children with CHD, despite many studies showing the safety of exercise intervention in this population. Most children with surgically corrected heart defects have reduced exercise capacity and are scarcely participating in physical activity programs or recreational sports. The restriction is even more severe for children with more complex structural defects who could still benefit from exercise training programs.
Exercise training performed post-operatively in patients with CHD would contribute to improved cardiovascular fitness, cardiac and lung function, quality of life, and would address the long-term risks of a sedentary lifestyle. Currently, an optimal model to deliver exercise training that encompasses issues such as the length of the intervention and, the type of exercise, along with consideration of varied ages of patients with CHD and different functional capacity, has not been defined.
In this Research Topic, we will accept manuscripts from experts in the field of pediatric rehabilitation, with the purpose to provide readers and clinicians a broad overview on the current evidence focusing on the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of exercise training after surgical procedures or catheter intervention in children with CHD.
In the pediatric age, post-operative rehabilitation is performed mainly in the post-acute in-patient setting as for adults’. However, no specific recommendations about exercise training is provided at discharge in children. For younger children, age might be a limiting factor but age-appropriate recommendations would contribute to continue the post-operative rehabilitation conditioning phase, help support motor skills development in younger children, and facilitate the return to their previous level of functioning.
Currently, exercise training is not part of the traditional management of children with CHD, despite many studies showing the safety of exercise intervention in this population. Most children with surgically corrected heart defects have reduced exercise capacity and are scarcely participating in physical activity programs or recreational sports. The restriction is even more severe for children with more complex structural defects who could still benefit from exercise training programs.
Exercise training performed post-operatively in patients with CHD would contribute to improved cardiovascular fitness, cardiac and lung function, quality of life, and would address the long-term risks of a sedentary lifestyle. Currently, an optimal model to deliver exercise training that encompasses issues such as the length of the intervention and, the type of exercise, along with consideration of varied ages of patients with CHD and different functional capacity, has not been defined.
In this Research Topic, we will accept manuscripts from experts in the field of pediatric rehabilitation, with the purpose to provide readers and clinicians a broad overview on the current evidence focusing on the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of exercise training after surgical procedures or catheter intervention in children with CHD.
Keywords: Congenital Heart Disease, Physical Therapy, Surgical Outcomes, Exercise Training, Exercise Prescription
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