Cardiorespiratory fitness in children with surgically corrected congenital heart disease: a meta-analysis and meta-regression

Author(s):
Haas, S.D.; Hulst, A.E. van der; Adel, C.; Malekzadeh, A.; Blom, N.A. (0000-0002-4823-6974); Königs, M.; Aardweg, J.G. van den; Kuipers, I.M.; Oosterlaan, J.
Published
2025
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor

Abstract

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect, and despite advancements in medical care, children with surgically corrected CHD often experience reduced cardiorespiratory fitness, which is associated with negative long-term health outcomes. This meta-analysis aimed to quantify peak oxygen consumption (V(center dot)O2peak) impairments in children with surgically corrected CHD, examine isolated diagnosis-specific impairments, and explore the relationship between clinical variables and cardiorespiratory fitness. A total of 45 studies encompassing 2,536 children with CHD and 3,108 healthy controls were included in the meta-analysis, revealing that children with CHD had significantly lower V(center dot)O2peak (standardized mean difference = 1.13, 95 % CI 0.98 to 1.28), with those having univentricular hearts being most affected (standardized mean difference = 1.61, 95 % CI 1.34 to 1.87). Reduced saturation during exercise, chronotropic impairment and early onset of anaerobic threshold are likely to play a role in this impairment. (c) 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Congenital heart diseaseCardiorespiratory fitnessCardiopulmonary exercise testingRisk factorsChildrenAdolescents
Date issued
2025-08-26
Language
English
Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
Is part of
Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine (2025), Vol. 35, no. 7, p. 417-426
hdl
1887/4298224
doi
10.1016/j.tcm.2025.04.005
URL
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1050173825000544?via%3Dihub