Skip Navigation



European Heart Journal Advance Access published online on December 9, 2008
European Heart Journal, doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehn531
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
30/4/497    most recent
ehn531v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gratz, A.
Right arrow Articles by Hager, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gratz, A.
Right arrow Articles by Hager, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2008. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Self-estimated physical functioning poorly predicts actual exercise capacity in adolescents and adults with congenital heart disease

Alexander Gratz, John Hess and Alfred Hager*

Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Congenital Heart Disease, Deutsches Herzzentrum München, Technische Universität München, Lazarettstr. 36, D-80636 München, Germany

Received 19 March 2008; revised 16 October 2008; accepted 18 November 2008.

* Corresponding author. Tel: +49 89 1218 1650, Fax: +49 89 1218 3013, Email: alexander.gratz{at}o2online.de; Hager{at}dhm.mhn.de

Aims: The aim of this study is to compare self-reported health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) with the objective of exercise performance in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) according to diagnosis.

Methods and results: 564 patients (255 females, 14–73 years) with various CHD (62 shunt, 66 left heart obstruction, 33 PS/PR, 47 Ebstein, 96 Fallot, 98 TGA after atrial switch, 38 other TGA, 31 Fontan, 32 palliated/native cyanotic, 61 others) and a group of 53 healthy controls (18 females, 14–57 years) completed a QoL questionnaire (SF-36) and performed a symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise test. Despite several limitations at exercise (P = 1.30 x 10–33), patients only reported reductions in HRQoL concerning physical functioning (P = 4.41 x 10–15) and general health (P = 6.17 x 10–5) and not psychosocial aspects. This could be confirmed in all diagnostic subgroups. Correlation to peak oxygen uptake was found in physical functioning (r = 0.435, P = 1.72 x 10–27) and general health (r = 0.275, P = 3.79 x 10–11). However, there was severe overestimation of physical functioning in most patients when compared with actual exercise test results.

Conclusion: Patients with CHD rate their HRQoL impaired only in physical functioning and general health and not in any psychosocial aspect. Self-estimated physical functioning poorly predicts actual exercise capacity.

Key Words: Congenital heart disease • Quality of life • Cardiopulmonary exercise testing


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Eur Heart JHome page
S. Glaser, C. Schaper, R. Ewert, and B. Koch
Peak oxygen uptake and exercise capacity: a reliable predictor of quality of life?
Eur. Heart J., July 1, 2009; 30(13): 1674 - 1674.
[Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Eur Heart JHome page
A. Gratz, J. Hess, and A. Hager
Peak oxygen uptake and exercise capacity: a reliable predictor of quality of life?: reply
Eur. Heart J., July 1, 2009; 30(13): 1674 - 1675.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.