Habitual Physical Activity in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease Compared With Age- and Sex-Matched Controls

Physical activity in adults with congenital heart disease and associations with functional outcomes

“…Moreover, because the recommendations have changed and medical doctors are primed to encourage PA in the absence of symptoms, the number of patients participating in PA seems to be increasing. Actually recent studies even reported about 55% of the patients with complex lesion meeting the PA recommendations20 or having at least some PA 21…”

Body mass index in adults with congenital heart disease

“…13 The authors found that underweight is more prevalent and overweight/obesity less prevalent in men with congenital heart lesions compared to a reference population especially in those with a complex lesion, whereas in women, only limited differences between those with ACHD and the control population TA B L E 3 BMI in men and women with subgroup lesions compared to reference group level expressed by VO 2 max in all subgroups in the present study was at least not worse than the published reference values. 31,32 This might clarify to some extent why men usually have lower BMI than women in this population. 32 Both studies showed that men were more active than women in this population.…”

“…These findings together with the aforementioned results affirm that being underweight might be a predictor of morbidity and mortality in severe ACHD patients as considered in patients with acquired heart failure, 15 The BMI status among adults with different congenital heart lesions was described in a study performed in the Swedish population of ACHD patients. 32 Both studies showed that men were more active than women in this population. 30 Interestingly, some researchers indicated that most ACHD patients met the recommendation of 30 min of at least moderate activity per day 31 and ACHD patients seemed to follow the same level pattern as the general population.…”

Modifiable cardiovascular risk factors in adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease

“…For example, in the US‐based National Health and Nutritional Examination survey, 51% of adults met physical activity guidelines based on self‐report, but only 5% did when physical activity was measured objectively by accelerometry . Recent studies that have used objective measures of physical activity in youth and adults with CHD found physical activity levels to be broadly comparable to the general population. While encouraging, these data need to be viewed in the context of the global physical inactivity crisis, and furthermore, we lack data confirming that the minimum “dose” recommended in general physical activity guidelines is also sufficient to achieve meaningful cardiovascular risk reduction in individuals with CHD.…”