What is the issue for NSW?
The population of congenital heart disease patients is growing rapidly, and the largest Australian proportion of that group reside in NSW. People with congenital heart disease , reduced quality of life, significant morbidity, and premature mortality. Drug therapies are ineffective at treating these issues, and consequently, these patients require enormous health resources. A proven alternative therapy is exercise. This research has shown exercise is the most effective therapy for improving exercise capacity, which is strongly associated with prognosis.
Furthermore, exercise can improve cardiac function, which has important implications as heart failure is a common cause of death. Despite these benefits, exercise participation is low, likely because current care models (e.g. cardiac rehabilitation) are not suited for people with congenital heart disease. The lack of appropriate models of care is preventing the implementation of exercise as a therapy, consequently increasing the economic burden on NSW healthcare systems.
What does the research aim to do and how?
This research aims to implement a telehealth model of care by developing a telehealth exercise and lifestyle program with the congenital heart disease community. Participants will receive an eight week individualised exercise and lifestyle intervention via telehealth. Study investigations will be performed at baseline, after the eight week program, and after a six month follow-up in a group of participants. Study investigations will include exercise testing, physical activity assessments, quality of life questionnaires, biochemical assessment for markers of heart function, and body composition analysis. The program will be evaluated to identify aspects that can be improved.
The top three key measures/indicators being used to assess the research outcomes are:
- Publication of a framework to implement a telehealth exercise and lifestyle program for people living with congenital heart disease
- Number of research citations in clinical guidelines
- Development of at least one dual randomised controlled type II hybrid implementation study based on the data generated from this project