Physical fitness and health‐related quality of life in pediatric renal transplant recipients: An interventional trial with active video gaming

Background Pediatric renal transplant recipients are at increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, one contributing factor is reduced cardiorespiratory fitness. The purpose was to evaluate cardiorespiratory fitness, motor coordination, muscle strength, daily physical activity, and health‐related quality of life and to find out, if active video gaming is effective for improving these items in this patient population. Methods Twenty renal transplant recipients (13.5 ± 3.4 years) and 33 matched healthy controls (13.1 ± 3.2 years) performed a spiroergometry, a motor coordination test, and a maximal handgrip strength test. Quality of life was determined with a validated questionnaire, and daily physical activity was recorded with a physical activity monitor. Thirteen patients (12.9 ± 3.4 years) participated in a 6‐week home‐based exergaming intervention (3×/week for 30 minutes) and repeated all tests after that. Results The renal transplant recipients exhibited a substantial impairment compared with the controls in peak oxygen consumption (−31%, P