The Congenital Heart Fitness Intervention Trial bringing hope

Doctors and researchers have wondered for some time whether specific exercises and training would safely help people living with half a heart improve their ability to exercise.

While the benefits of physical activity are well-recognised, the situation could be quite different for those with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and other types of congenital heart disease.

In a preliminary study, HRI’s Assoc Prof Rachael Cordina, from the Clinical Research Group, found exciting results showing that specific lower leg resistance exercises helped HLHS participants improve their exercise ability and heart function.

Now, in a world first, Assoc Prof Cordina is embarking on a larger trial called “CH-FIT: The Congenital Heart Fitness Intervention Trial”. CH-FIT will investigate the benefits of her specific exercise program, which includes resistance training for people with HLHS and other heart birth defects.

Assoc Prof Cordina answers questions about her groundbreaking research.

Until recently, people with congenital heart disease were not expected to survive to adulthood. But now we have more adults than children living with congenital heart disease. But they’ve grown up in a culture where they’ve been told not to exercise, as it could be dangerous. It’s hard if you’ve not learnt to be active in childhood, to suddenly change your ways in adulthood and become an active person.

We’ll be recruiting almost 400 people across Australia, by far the largest number of any similar studies. The children will all train face-to-face in focused groups in their local area. Fitness First has partnered with us, and we’ve developed a tele-health model for the adults that is just like being trained in Fitness First gyms. We plan to work out each person’s optimum levels of exercise and create a personalised plan for each.

The potential is massive. In our preliminary study, we showed that with our specific resistance training, people living with half a heart could improve their heart output, and at the same time their exercise capacity and circulation worked much better.

With exercise also benefitting mental health, quality of life and social functioning, the changes brought about by our study hold huge hope to increase life expectancy for people with HLHS.