Children with severe burn injury do not display sex differences for exercise capacity and exercise induced training adaptations
Authors: Rivas Eric , Chapa Martha , Cambiaso‐Daniel Janos , Rontoyanni Victoria G. , Gutierrez Ileana L. , Tran Joan , Sanchez Kevin , Herndon David , Lee Jong O. , Suman Oscar E. 
Published: June 2021

Background

Children with severe burn injury sometimes undergo exercise training as part of their rehabilitation. Others have reported that females have a 50% increased risk of death from burn injury compared to males. However, whether exercise capacity and exercise induced training adaptations differ between boys and girls is unknown.

Purpose

This project tested the hypothesis that girls with burn injury would have lower strength and aerobic exercise capacity compared to burned boys, and that exercise training rehabilitation (RET) adaptations would likewise differ between groups.

Methods

Severely burned girls (n=25) and boys (n=26) were matched for age, body morphology (means±SD; 13±3 yrs, 150±15 cm, 53±14 kg; each P≥0.71) and for burn injury (54±20% total body surface area burn, P=0.82). Strength (peak torque) and cardiorespiratory fitness (peak VO2) were normalized to lean body mass (LBM) and analyzed as a relative percentage of age‐sex matched non‐burned children (girls 13 yrs, n=25, boys 13 yrs, n=26). Submaximal oxygen uptake (VO2) and heart rate (HR) were expressed as a percentage of peak values and compared to their sex‐ matched non‐burned counterpart during the first 4 stages of the modified Bruce protocol. At discharge (DC) and after an aerobic and resistance rehabilitation exercise training (RET) program, 2‐way factorial ANOVA assessed interaction and main effects of group × time for peak exercise and group × stage for submaximal exercise, with significance set at P<0.05.

Results

Girls had longer length of hospital stay (41±23 vs. 29±13 days, P=0.02). At DC and post‐RET, LBM was lower in burned and increased similarly after RET (DC 87.3% of non‐burned values, post‐RET 92.8%; Main effect, Time P=0.017). Peak torque was not different at DC and increased similarly after RET in both groups (DC, 56±17; after RET, 77±20%; Main effect, Time P<0.0001). Likewise, the improvement in peak VO2 was not different from DC to after RET between both groups (DC, 54±12 to RET, 67±13%; Main effect, Time; P<0.0001). Burned children exercise at greater percentage of their peak VO2 and peak HR during submaximal exercise compared to non‐burned children (Interaction, Group × Stage, P<0.0001; see Figure 1).

Conclusion

These data indicate that the initial burn injury at DC or after RET does not have sex‐dependent effects on LBM, submaximal or peak exercise capacity. Exercise capacity is improved after exercise training but remains lower than non‐burned children. Differences in relative peak VO2 and peak HR may suggest the need for burn specific exercise programs for improving the efficacy and progress of a rehabilitation exercise program.

Support or Funding Information

This study was supported in part or totally by awards from NIH P50‐GM060338, NIH R01‐GM56687, R01 HD049471, 3R01HD049471‐12S1, SHC 84080, 71008, 84090, NIDILRR 90DP0043‐01‐00

This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.