Results Overall , exercise intolerance is prevalent in pediatric chronic disease .
Background Physical activity ( PA ) is associated with a diverse range of health benefits .
International guidelines suggest that children should be participating in a minimum of 60 min of moderate to vigorous intensity PA per day to achieve these benefits .
However , current guidelines are intended for healthy children , and thus may not be applicable to children with a chronic disease .
Specifically , the dose of PA and disease specific exercise considerations are not included in these guidelines , leaving such children with few , if any , evidence -based informed suggestions pertaining to PA .
Thus , the purpose of this narrative review was to consider current literature in the area of exercise as medicine and provide practical applications for exercise in five prevalent pediatric chronic diseases : respiratory , congenital heart , metabolic , systemic inflammatory/autoimmune , and cancer .
Exercise training improves activity in adolescents with congenital heart disease
Objectives To ascertain if motivational techniques and a structured exercise programme can increase activity in adolescents afflicted with congenital heart disease ( CHD ) . Design Prospect i ve r and omised controlled trial . Setting One hundred and forty-three patients aged 12–20 years attending the tertiary centre for paediatric cardiology in Northern Irel and . Main outcome measures Increase in exercise capacity as assessed by duration of exercise stress test , and number of minutes spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity ( MVPA ) per day . Results Eighty-six patients were men ( 60 % ) , mean age was 15.60±2.27 years . Seventy-three percent were considered to have major CHD . Seventy-two participants were r and omised to the intervention group . Following intervention , duration of exercise test increased by 1 min 5 s for the intervention group ( p value 0.02 ) along with increase in predicted VO2Max ( p value 0.02 ) . There was a significant increase in minutes of MVPA per day for the intervention group from baseline to re assessment ( p value < 0.001 ) while MVPA remained much the same for the control group . Fourteen patients met the current recommendation for more than 60 min MVPA per day at baseline . This doubled to 29 participants at re assessment . There were no adverse effects or mortalities reported . Conclusions Exercise training  is safe , feasible and beneficial in adolescents with CHD . Psychological techniques can be employed to maximise the impact of interventions . Trial Registration Number IS RCT N27986270
Results Overall , exercise intolerance is prevalent in pediatric chronic disease .
Background Physical activity ( PA ) is associated with a diverse range of health benefits .
International guidelines suggest that children should be participating in a minimum of 60 min of moderate to vigorous intensity PA per day to achieve these benefits .
However , current guidelines are intended for healthy children , and thus may not be applicable to children with a chronic disease .
Specifically , the dose of PA and disease specific exercise considerations are not included in these guidelines , leaving such children with few , if any , evidence -based informed suggestions pertaining to PA .
Thus , the purpose of this narrative review was to consider current literature in the area of exercise as medicine and provide practical applications for exercise in five prevalent pediatric chronic diseases : respiratory , congenital heart , metabolic , systemic inflammatory/autoimmune , and cancer .