Study design (if review, criteria of inclusion for studies)
Randomized controlled trial
Participants
The study population comprised 7-20-y-old children and adolescents with CF. 2 groups: intervention (group 1), with 17 subjects; and control (group 2), also with 17 subjects.
Interventions
The intervention consisted of handing out a manual with guidelines for aerobic physical exercises and reinforcing recommendations in telephone calls every 2 weeks.
Outcome measures
Increase in physical exercise practice as reported by subjects after 3 months
Main results
Thirty-four subjects were included in the study, 20 of whom were boys (58.5%). The groups were similar at baseline. In group 1, 6 subjects (35.2%) reported practicing physical exercises regularly. The mean age was 13.4 +/- 2.8 y, the mean percent-of-predicted FEV1 was 95.5 +/- 17.9%, and the mean peak oxygen uptake (VO2 ) relative to body mass was 34.9 +/- 9.0 mL/kg/min. In group 2, 4 subjects (23.5%) reported practicing physical exercises regularly. The mean age was 12.7 +/- 3.3 y, the mean percent-of-predicted FEV1 was 100.1 +/- 21.2%, and the mean peak VO2 was 33.2 +/- 8.2 mL/kg/min. In group 1, there was a significant increase in physical exercise practice as reported by subjects after 3 months of intervention compared with group 2 (P = .01). No statistically significant differences were found for the other variables.
Authors' conclusions
Verbal and written guidelines for aerobic exercise, together with supervision over the telephone, had a positive impact on the self-reported regular physical exercise practice of children and adolescents. However, no improvement was found in lung function and maximum exercise capacity or domains of the quality of life questionnaire.