Parental mental health moderates the efficacy of exercise training on health-related quality of life in adolescents with congenital heart disease

Pediatr Cardiol. 2015 Jan;36(1):33-40. doi: 10.1007/s00246-014-0961-z. Epub 2014 Jul 31.

Abstract

To evaluate the moderating influence of parental variables on changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adolescents with Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) or a Fontan circulation after participation in standardized exercise training. A multicenter randomized controlled trail in which 56 patients, aged 10-15, were randomly allocated (stratified by age, gender, and congenital heart disease) to a 12-week period with either: (a) 3 times per week standardized exercise training or (b) care-as-usual (randomization ratio 2:1). Adolescents and their parents filled in online questionnaires at baseline and at 12-week follow-up. In this randomized controlled trail, primary analyses involved influence of parental mental health and parental social support for exercise on changes in the TNO/AZL Child Quality of Life Questionnaire Child Form at follow-up. Secondary analyses concerned comparing levels of parental characteristics with normative data. Compared with controls, adolescents in the exercise group reported a decrease in social functioning when their parents had more anxiety/insomnia or severe depression themselves. Adolescents also reported a decrease in social functioning when their parents showed poorer overall mental health themselves. Parents reported comparable or even better mental health compared with normative data. The effect of a standardized exercise program on HRQoL changes in adolescents with ToF or a Fontan circulation is moderated by parental mental health, more specifically by parental anxiety/insomnia and severe depression. The trial registration number of this article is NTR2731 ( www.trialregister.nl ).

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Child
  • Exercise Therapy*
  • Female
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / rehabilitation*
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / surgery
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Health*
  • Parent-Child Relations*
  • Parents / psychology*
  • Quality of Life*
  • Social Support
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Tetralogy of Fallot / rehabilitation
  • Tetralogy of Fallot / surgery
  • Treatment Outcome

Associated data

  • NTR/NTR2731