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Adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) have poor exercise capacity, which is associated with adverse outcomes. In this study, researchers found that reducing sedentary time and spending more time on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may be associated with exercise capacity enhancement in adult patients with CHD.

Tsukuba, Japan—Congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs in approximately 1% of newborns. Improvements in cardiac management and surgical techniques have ameliorated the survival rates of patients with CHD, with over 90% of infants with the condition reaching adulthood. However, adult patients with CHD are known to have poor exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake), which is associated with a poor prognosis. Meanwhile, reducing sedentary behavior and increasing physical activity may contribute to improved exercise capacity in adult patients with CHD. This study examined the relationship between sedentary behavior, physical activity, and exercise capacity in adult patients with CHD.

Researchers evaluated the peak oxygen uptake (the peak amount of oxygen that can be taken in per minute per kilogram of body weight) and the time spent in sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day in 96 adult patients with CHD aged 18-74 years and analyzed these associations.

The results showed that replacing 10 minutes of sedentary behavior with the same duration of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with 0.454 mL/min/kg (95% confidence interval: 0.100 mL/min/kg, 0.807 mL/min/kg) of supplementary peak oxygen uptake. Furthermore, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with peak oxygen uptake augmentation regardless of CHD severity.

Our findings suggest that increasing the duration of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity may contribute to exercise capacity enhancement in adult patients with CHD and is expected to contribute to mobility maintenance and prognosis improvement.

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This work was supported in part by a KAKENHI Grant of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (23K15124) and the Advanced Research Initiative for Human High Performance (ARIHHP) at the University of Tsukuba.

Original Paper

Title of original paper:

Sedentary behavior and physical activity on exercise capacity in adult patients with congenital heart disease

Journal:

International Journal of Cardiology Congenital Heart Disease

DOI:

10.1016/j.ijcchd.2025.100569

Correspondence

Assistant Professor KOSAKI Keisei
Institute of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Related Link

Institute of Health and Sport Sciences