Pediatric cardiac rehabilitation
I. C. Balfour, A. M. Drimmer, S. Nouri, D. G. Pennington, C. L. Hemkens and L. L. Harvey
Department of Pediatrics/Adolescent Medicine, St Louis University Medical Center, MO 63104.
Sixteen patients participated in a Pediatric/Young Adult Cardiac
Rehabilitation Program that included exercise training, education about
cardiovascular diseases, dietary counseling, and counseling on stress
management. Seven patients completed the program, and complete data were
available on six. The subjects demonstrated significant changes in their
hemodynamics and exercise tolerance after completing the program. Resting
blood pressure decreased by 7%, from 119 +/- 12 to 111 +/- 10 mm Hg; peak
oxygen consumption increased by 20%, from 31.9 +/- 4.3 mL/kg of body weight
per minute to 38.4 +/- 6.0 mL/kg of body weight per minute; and exercise
treadmill time increased by 21%, from 8.5 +/- 1.4 to 10.3 +/- 1.0 minutes.
No complications occurred during exercise training or testing. Supervised
exercise training at moderate intensity is safe and produces significant
and beneficial changes in hemodynamics and exercise time in children with
cardiac disease.
