Pediatr Exerc Sci. 2025 Dec 4:1-9. doi: 10.1123/pes.2024-0066. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Youth with heart disease experience comorbidities that impact physical activity (PA), mental health (MH), and quality of life (QoL).
PURPOSE: To explore the relationship between PA and MH and QoL in adolescents with cardiac arrhythmia disorders, cardiomyopathies, or single ventricle heart disease.
METHODS: Participants completed surveys/questionnaires regarding PA (Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents), anxiety (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System [PROMIS]-Anxiety), depressive symptoms (PROMIS-Depressive Symptoms), global QoL (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory [PedsQL]-generic), and cardiac disease-specific QoL (PedsQL-cardiac). Pearson correlations and regression analysis examined relationships between PA and MH/QoL.
RESULTS: The study included 63 participants (males = 32, 50.7%), with an age of 15.46 (1.82) years. The sample was mostly inactive (Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents score: 1.95 [0.65]). Outcomes used T-scores for PROMIS-Anxiety (49.7 [12.2]) and PROMIS-Depressive Symptoms (46.9 [12.7]), and summary scores for PedsQL-generic (75.2 [18.9]) and PedsQL-cardiac (74.7 [17.5]). There was a negative correlation between PA and MH (PROMIS-Anxiety: r = -.338, PROMIS-Depressive Symptoms: r = -.337; P < .05) and positive correlation between PA and QoL (PedsQL-generic: r = .37, PedsQL-cardiac: r = .39; P < .001). Adjusting for key variables using regression analysis, greater participation in PA was independently related to decreased anxiety and depression and greater QoL.
CONCLUSIONS: Greater PA engagement was associated with more favorable MH and QoL in adolescents with cardiac arrhythmia disorders, cardiomyopathy, or single ventricle heart disease.
PMID:41344317 | DOI:10.1123/pes.2024-0066
