do not leave children on the sidelines

Ten thousand steps and more. If the benefits of physical activity (PA) are well known for cardiovascular diseases, those concerning congenital heart disease, pathologies linked to an anomaly during the formation of the heart or associated vessels, are less known. They affect approximately one in a hundred births, and are more or less serious. This may require emergency intervention in the first hours of life.

“For a long time, patients with congenital heart defects were advised not to engage in physical activity”explains Jean-Benoît Thambo, head of the congenital heart pathologies department at the Haut-Lévêque cardiological hospital (Pessac, Bordeaux University Hospital). “Today, we have shown that supervised sports rehabilitation provides benefits for the patient, and that it is certainly one of the best treatments”continues the doctor, also president of the association Les Liens du coeur. It is for him “a complete paradigm shift”.

The idea came from Pascal Amedro, cardio-pediatrician at Bordeaux University Hospital. With his colleague Sophie Guillaumont, from Montpellier University Hospital, he designed, in 2017, a rehabilitation program for 13-25 year olds born with congenital heart disease, operated on before the age of 1, and who are deconditioned and out of breath during exercise.

In this study, called QualiRehab, 142 young people, half of whom are a control group, were evaluated at the time of inclusion (exercise test with measurement of VO2 max, quality of life questionnaire, PA level, psychological assessment…). After a week in a cardiac rehabilitation center, the first group followed exercise retraining for twelve weeks, with two sessions per week at home and video sessions, supervised by an adapted physical activity (APA) teacher. .

Improve quality of life

The results show that “the members of the group who had followed the three-month program saw, one year later, a significant improvement in their quality of life, VO2 max, PA level, and a reduction in anxiety, depression, body mass index, and blood pressure arterial, statistically significant »describes Pascal Amedro, also a researcher at IHU Liryc (Institute of Rhythmology and Cardiac Modeling), in Pessac.

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With these results, a program will start in January 2024 at Bordeaux University Hospital with the Siel Bleu association, on the same model. Around ten children will be accompanied to the hospital each week and around forty children will be monitored at home and/or in sports clubs. The practices are adapted to the pathology and fatigue of each person. This was made possible thanks to funds raised by the association Les Liens du coeur.

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