Optimising exercise prescription and delivery in congenital heart disease – The Congenital Heart Fitness Intervention Trial: CH-FIT

The Congenital Heart Fitness Intervention Test (CH-FIT) study, led by Assoc Prof Rachael Cordina and Dr Derek Tran, is the largest ever randomised trial in this cohort to investigate the role of exercise for CHD, with early results showing it could drastically improve both lives, and life expectancy. The Heart Research Institute’s (HRI’s) world-first exercise trial for patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) is already seeing positive results, with participants reporting increased energy and reduced anxiety while being active.

Within five years we will have generated the first definitive evidence to guide exercise prescription for the international CHD population to date. These findings will inform practice and optimal models of care worldwide.

This project is designed to improve quality of life and exercise capacity for people living with congenital heart disease (CHD).

The Heart Research Institute will undertake the first multi-centre randomised controlled exercise intervention in children and adults living with CHD, employing a scalable model of care, integrating physical activity and behaviour change techniques.

Although the benefits of physical activity are well-recognised in other chronic conditions and cardiac rehabilitation is a standard of care in acquired cardiac disease, exercise training for the CHD population has been under-studied and even historically discouraged.

• Wood G, Scheer A, Saundankar J, Tran D, Cordina R, Maiorana A. The effects of telerehabilitation in adults with complex biventricular congenital heart conditions: protocol for a multi-centre, randomised controlled trial-CH-FIT. Trials. 2024 Apr 5;25(1):239. doi: 10.1186/s13063-024-08019-7. PMID: 38581070; PMCID: PMC10998335.