Kindergarten Children with Congenital Heart Disease Show Good Physical Activity but Reduced Motor Skills in Comparison with Healthy Children

Objective: For the interaction of individuals with their environment, motor competence is of major importance. It is known that school children with congenital heart disease (CHD) have motoric limitations even without hemodynamic residuals. Data from kindergarten children is lacking. This study was to compare the motor competence of kindergarten children with congenital heart disease (4-6 years) with healthy children of the same age group.

Patients and Methods: A motor test “MOT 4-6” with 18 tasks in different groups of motor skills was performed in 62 children (19 female, 43 male) with various forms of CHD and compared to 39 healthy children (22 female, 17 male). In addition to the motor test all subjects answered the Kiddy-KINDL® quality of life questionnaire, and wore an accelerometer to capture daily physical activity for seven consecutive days.

Results: The median (quartile 1; quartile 3) motor quotient in the CHD group (104 [96;113]) was significantly lower than in the control group (111 [104;116]; Mann-Whitney-U test p=0.005). Quality of life did not differ significantly (p=0.774, parents’ questionnaire p=0.066), nor the minutes in moderate and vigorous physical activity (p=0.093). No correlation between the motor quotient and the other variables could be shown.

Conclusion: Kindergarten children with CHD should be screened for a normal motor development. This delay seems to be independent from daily physical activity.