Life satisfaction, health-related quality of life and physical activity after treatment for valvular aortic stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate health-related quality of life and life satisfaction in children and adolescents treated for isolated congenital valvular aortic stenosis compared to healthy peers. Our second aim was to investigate the relationship between objectively measured physical activity, health-related quality of life and life satisfaction in the same group. METHODS: Forty-eight patients, 8-18 years of age, were recruited, as well as 43 healthy peers matched for age, gender and residential area. Health-related quality of life was assessed by the KIDSCREEN-52 self-report and parent proxy report, and life satisfaction was evaluated with the Satisfaction With Life Scale. Physical activity was measured with an accelerometer for 7 days. Sports participation was self-reported. RESULTS: No differences in the health-related quality of life domains were found between patients and controls in the self-reports. In the proxy reports, parents of the adolescents rated their child's autonomy lower than did the parents of the healthy controls. A negative relationship was found between moderate to vigorous physical activity, sports participation, life satisfaction and the psychological well-being domain in adolescent patients. In children there was a positive relationship between moderate physical activity and the physical and psychological well-being domains. CONCLUSION: Overall, children and adolescents treated for valvular aortic stenosis reported similar life satisfaction and health-related quality of life as their healthy peers. The negative relationships between intense physical activity and sports participation with health-related quality of life and life satisfaction in adolescent patients might be explained by both physical and psychological factors in these teenagers with complex, lifelong heart disease.

Physical activity in children and adolescents with CHD: review from a measurement methodological perspective.

AIM: To compile a literature overview of physical activity in children with CHD and to critically evaluate the methodology used for physical activity assessment. METHODS: A review of the literature was performed using PubMed to identify studies examining accelerometer and subjectively assessed physical activity in children and adolescents with CHD. RESULT: A total of 15 studies were included (6 studies using subjective measures and 9 articles using accelerometers for the assessment of physical activity). The patients generally failed to meet the recommendations of physical activity. When compared to healthy controls, the results were widely divergent in the subjectively assessed measures and the accelerometer-based studies showed a tendency of no difference in physical activity. Neither subjective methods nor accelerometer-based studies reported any difference in physical activity in general, in relation to the severity of the heart disease. CONCLUSION: Methodological variation and limitations in the assessment of physical activity largely explain the divergent results and the inability to establish differences in physical activity between children with CHD of different severity and compared to healthy controls. Methodological knowledge and guidelines are provided for improved assessment of physical activity using accelerometers in clinical research.

Children and Adolescents Treated for Valvular Aortic Stenosis Have Different Physical Activity Patterns Compared to Healthy Controls: A Methodological Study in a National Cohort.

Previous research in children and adolescents with congenital heart defects presents contradictory findings concerning their physical activity (PA) level, due to methodological limitations in the PA assessment. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to compare PA in children and adolescents treated for valvular aortic stenosis with healthy controls using an improved accelerometer method. Seven-day accelerometer data were collected from the hip in a national Swedish sample of 46 patients 6-18 years old treated for valvular aortic stenosis and 44 healthy controls matched for age, gender, geography, and measurement period. Sports participation was self-reported. Accelerometer data were processed with the new improved Frequency Extended Method and with the traditional ActiGraph method for comparison. A high-resolution PA intensity spectrum was investigated as well as traditional crude PA intensity categories. Children treated for aortic stenosis had a pattern of less PA in the highest intensity spectra and had more sedentary time, while the adolescent patients tended to be less physically active in higher intensities overall and with less sedentary time, compared to the controls. These patterns were evident using the Frequency Extended Method with the detailed PA intensity spectrum, but not to the same degree using the ActiGraph method and traditional crude PA intensity categories. Patients reported less sports participation than their controls in both age-groups. Specific differences in PA patterns were revealed using the Frequency Extended Method with the high-resolution PA intensity spectrum in Swedish children and adolescents treated for valvular aortic stenosis.