Effects of the Fitkids Exercise Therapy Program on Health-Related Fitness, Walking Capacity, and Health-Related Quality of Life.

Background: Children with disabilities have an increased risk for reduced fitness and reduced health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Fitkids, a nationwide exercise therapy program in the Netherlands, was developed to improve fitness and HRQoL in children with disabilities. Objective: The study objective was to determine the effects of the Fitkids program on health-related fitness, walking capacity, and HRQoL in children with disabilities or chronic conditions. Design: This was a quasi-experimental single-group longitudinal study. Methods: Fifty-two children and adolescents who were referred to the Fitkids program participated in this study. Participants received a graded exercise training program for 6 months, with frequencies of 1 hour 2 times per week in the first 3 months and 1 hour per week during months 4 to 6. Health-related fitness (aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, and muscle strength), walking capacity, and HRQoL were evaluated at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of training. Multilevel modeling was used to quantify the contributions of repeated measures, participants, and Fitkids centers to variations in health-related fitness, walking capacity, and HRQoL during the intervention period. The models were adjusted for sex, height, and weight. Results: After 6 months of training, significant intervention effects were found for aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, and muscle strength. A significant effect also was found for walking capacity. On the HRQoL measure, significant improvements were found for the self-reported and parent-reported physical and emotion domains and for the parent-reported total score for HRQoL. Limitations: No control group was included in this study. Conclusions: The Fitkids exercise therapy program has significantly improved health-related fitness, walking capacity, and HRQoL in children and adolescents with chronic conditions or disabilities.(aut. ref.