Common Heart Defect may Limit Exercise Ability

Ventricular septal defects, a common congenital heart defect, may lower the ability to exercise, especially as a person gets older, stated research today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, an open-access journal of the American Heart Association.

A ventricular septal defect is a common developmental problem where a hole in the wall separates the heart's right and left ventricles. People born with a ventricular septal defect have decreased functional exercise than their healthy peers, it has not been clear whether this exercise capacity would degenerate as they age.

‘People 40 years and older with ventricular septal defects - surgically repaired or not - have worse functional exercise capacity than people born without the defect, and the difference in exercise capacity appears to increase with age.’

"Most congenital heart defect patients are discharged from follow-up care as they reach adulthood, yet many experienced limitations during physical activity," said lead author Marie Maagaard, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at Aarhus University Hospital in Aarhus, Denmark. "These results underline the importance of keeping adults with ventricular septal defects in follow-up programs and including exercise tests in the assessment of their potential deteriorating functional capacity."

Functional exercise capacity estimates what a person's heart will allow them to do, regardless of other physical issues.

Among 30 patients with surgically repaired ventricular septal defects, functional exercise capacity differences using standard cardiopulmonary exercise testing were evaluated. All the participants were between ages 40 and 75.

Study Findings

• Exercise capacity was 29% lower for older patients with surgically repaired ventricular septal defects after age 40.
• Patients in their mid-20s with surgically repaired ventricular septal defects have 18% diminished capacity compared with their healthy counterparts.
• Older participants with unrepaired ventricular septal defect had 21% lower capacity.
• Younger patients with an unrepaired defect had 17% lower capacity than their healthy peers.

"The next step to better understand the physiology behind this study's findings could be a combination of cardiac catheterization with upright bicycle exercise, performed in surgically repaired and unrepaired ventricular septal defect patients and their healthy counterparts," she said. "Furthermore, randomized clinical trials of potential therapeutic options are also important."

Source: Medindia