Activities of Daily Living, Physical Activity, Physical Fitness and Quality of Life in Children with Congenital Heart Disease: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Despite reports of reduced physical fitness in children with congenital heart disease (CHD), no specific performance evaluations for activities of daily living have been conducted.

Objectives: The aim was to compare the activities of daily living, quality of life, posture, physical fitness and physical activity levels of children with CHD with healthy controls (HC).

Methods: The study included 30 children aged 6-14 diagnosed with moderate or severe CHD and 30 age-sex-matched HC. The sociodemographic and clinical data of the participants were recorded. All participants went through several tests, namely the TGlittre-P test for activities of daily living, the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) for functional capacity, the Fitnessgram test battery for physical fitness, the hand dynamometer for measuring grip strength, the pedometer for measuring physical activity, and both the child and parents reported the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) for evaluating the quality of life, in addition to posture analyses. Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results: Individuals with CHD had a longer TGlittre-P test completion time and a shorter 6MWT distance than HC (TGlittre-P: CHD 3.45 [3.24-4.02]min vs. HC 3.10 [2.57-3.23]min, 6MWT: CHD 514.00 [412.50-566.00]m vs. HC 591.50 [533.00-631.00]m). For the CHD group, sit-ups, push-ups, trunk lift, and sit-and-reach test scores within the Fitnessgram battery, grip strength, posture, and quality of life scores were lower than those for the HC group. Physical activity levels were similar in the groups.

Conclusions: The performance of activities of daily living, functional capacity, physical fitness, posture, and quality of life of children with moderate and severe CHD were affected compared to healthy peers.