Home Exercise And Resiliency Training (Heart) Club

Home Exercise And Resiliency Training (HEART) Club: A Virtual Care at Home Program to Reduce Frailty for Adults With Fontan Circulation

The purpose of this research study is to evaluate the impact of a telemedicine-based structured home exercise program on frailty and exercise capacity in individuals with Fontan heart physiology, demonstrate that a telemedicine exercise program reduces socioeconomic and geographic barriers to access to exercise training, and to explore the impact of a structured exercise program on markers of Fontan-associated liver disease.

This study will require two in-person visits to the exercise physiology lab as well as virtual follow-up visits. Visit one will require participants to complete a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET), liver ultrasound, 6-minute walk, grip strength test, arm circumference measure, body composition analysis, anthropometrics measurement, surveys and a biomarker blood sample collection. The second in-person visit will require participants to complete a final cardiopulmonary exercise test, liver ultrasound, 6-minute walk, grip strength test and arm circumference, biomarker blood sample and final survey.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Males and females with Fontan physiology
• 19 years old at age of enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Height less than 130 centimeter (cm)
• Pregnancy or the plan to become pregnant during the study period
• Current intravenous inotropic drugs
• Severe ventricular dysfunction assessed qualitatively by clinical echocardiography within six months prior to enrollment
• Severe valvar regurgitation, ventricular outflow obstruction, or aortic arch obstruction assessed by clinical echocardiography within six months prior to enrollment
• History of arrhythmia with exercise (excluding isolated supraventricular or ventricular ectopy without symptoms)
• Inability to complete exercise testing at baseline screening
• Noncardiac medical, psychiatric, and/or social disorder that would prevent successful completion of planned study testing or would invalidate its results