Research Projects/Survey
Sports, Fun and Games for Heart-Children?
S-BAHn Study of the National Register Should Provide Clarity and Options
Scientific name of the study
S-BAHn Study ("Sport Bei Angeborenen Herzfehlern"/"Sports in Congenital Heart Disease")
Are children and adolescents with congenital heart disease at a disadvantage when it comes to sports and exercise? Are there suitable options at school and for leisure? We want to know for sure.
Exercise Increases the Quality of Life
Everyone benefits from exercise and sports. It is a source of stress relief also for children. Exercise and sports are proven to enhance our wellbeing. We have more fun together, learn better and strengthen our nerves, muscles and body's defenses. But do people with chronic and congenital diseases have the same options regarding sports and exercise as healthy people? One thing is for sure: Regular exercise can help reduce secondary diseases and it improves the quality of life. But are there suitable options for "heart-children"?
What is the Most Fun?
Which kinds of sports and exercise do children and adolescents with congenital heart disease pursue actively? And what is the most fun? Is it climbing or rather hiking? Do they prefer a dance group or a hockey team? Outside right or in goal? Water ballet or swimming for time? And how do we best encourage children and adolescents with congenital heart disease in terms of physical activity? We want to find out.
Heart-Experts Provide Answers
In an online survey of 2018, we asked children and adolescents about their preferences regarding sports. 1,718 Register members answered our questions. We are currently comparing our survey's results with the sports behavior of healthy children. For this purpose, we are collaborating with Dr. Claudia Albrecht, sports scientist at the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, and pediatric cardiologist Dr. Jannos Siaplaouras.
For our comparison we use the nationwide Motorik-Modulstudie (motor activity modular study). Our S-BAHn (Sport Bei Angeborenen Herzfehlern = "sports in congenital heart disease") study thus helps us find out whether children and adolescents with congenital heart disease prefer similar or different kinds of sports and exercise and if they are able to equally participate in school sports or recreational sports. The research project is funded by the Foerdergemeinschaft Deutsche Kinderherzzentren e. V. (promotion society for German pediatric heart centers).
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To the Research Result
Children with Congenital Heart Defects Sit too Much
© iStockphoto.com | FatCamera
Children with congenital heart defects need more exercise. The results of this study are now available. According to the study, only nine percent of children and adolescents affected by congenital heart defects keep physically fit for one hour a day. The scientists see an urgent need for action and a gap in advice that should be urgently closed. Read more here.
Publications
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30.4.2020
Physical Activity Among Children With Congenital Heart Defects in Germany: A Nationwide Survey.
Siaplaouras J, Niessner C, Helm PC, Jahn A, Flemming M, Urschitz MS, Sticker E, Abdul-Khaliq H, Bauer UM, Apitz C
Frontiers in pediatrics 8, 170, (2020). Show this publication on PubMed.
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In charge of the project:
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© Universitätsklinikum Ulm
Prof. Dr. med. Christian Apitz
As senior physician, pediatric cardiologist Christian Apitz has headed the Pediatric Cardiology Section at the University Hospital Ulm since 2015. More
His interest in paediatric cardiology and paediatric intensive care medicine led Christian Apitz, after completing his specialist training in Würzburg in 2003, to the University Clinic for Paediatrics and Youth Medicine Tübingen. From 2008 to 2009, the physician completed a Clinical Research Fellowship at the renowned Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, the second largest pediatric research hospital in the world after Boston Children's Hospital. He then moved to the Children's Heart Center at the Justus Liebig University of Giessen, where he headed the pediatric cardiology outpatient clinic and the special outpatient clinic for children and adolescents with pulmonary hypertension until he moved to Ulm. Christian Apitz holds the ACHD certificate for the treatment of adults with congenital heart defects.
Universitätsklinikum Ulm
Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin, Pädiatrische Kardiologie
Eythstr. 24
89075 Ulm
Contact person:
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© Wolfram Scheible für Nationales Register
Dr. med. Ulrike Bauer
Ulrike Bauer, born in 1958, is the Scientific Managing Director of the National Register for Congenital Heart Defects and the Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects. More
Ulrike Bauer studied human medicine at the Humboldt University of Berlin. After finishing her doctorate on echocardiography in congenital heart disease, she was a resident for internal medicine at the county hospital in Chemnitz, after which she transferred to the Institute for Cardiovascular Diagnostics at the Charité Berlin. From there she transferred to the department of pediatric cardiology at the German Heart Center, Berlin (Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin). Under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Peter E. Lange, Ulrike Bauer started setting up a nationwide register for congenital heart disease. The initiative by Prof. Dr. Peter E. Lange lead to the founding of the association of the National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. It was jointly supported by the board of trustees of Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin and the cardiac societies, as well as by parent and patient associations. The same year was also the kick-off for creating the Competence Network for Congenital Heart Defects, which could took place thanks to government grants. Ulrike Bauer is a member of the German Society of Paediatric Cardiology (DGK), the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), the German Cardiac Society (DGK) and the Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology (AEPC).
Kompetenznetz Angeborene Herzfehler e. V.
Network Headquarters
Augustenburger Platz 1
13353 Berlin
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