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.


METHODS
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.


CONCLUSIONS
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.
E.M.W. Kotte, MSc, Fitkids Foundation, Box 75751, 1070 AT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. elles@fitkids.nl.
Elles M W
EM
Kotte
J.F. de Groot, PT, PhD, University of Applied Science, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Child Development & Exercise Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands; and Partner of Shared Utrecht Pediatric Exercise Research (SUPER) Lab, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Janke F
JF
de Groot
A.M.F. Winkler, MD, Fitkids Foundation.
Alexander M F
AM
Winkler
B.C.H. Huijgen, PhD, Center for Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Barbara C H
BC
Huijgen
T. Takken, PhD, Child Development & Exercise Center, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, and Partner of Shared Utrecht Pediatric Exercise Research (SUPER) Lab.
Tim
T
Takken
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D019988:Children with Disabilities / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010809:Physical Fitness / Q000502:physiology*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome