Tancredi, Giancarlo;  Lambiase, Caterina; Favoriti, Alessandra; Ricupito, Francesca; Paoli,
Sara; Duse, Marzia; De Castro, Giovanna; Zicari, Anna; Vitaliti,  Giovanna; Falsaperla, Raffaele; Lubrano, Riccardo.

Italian Journal of Pediatrics, December 2016, Vol. 42 Issue: Number 1 p1-7, 7p;

Abstract:
An increasing number of children with chronic disease require a
complete medical examination to be able to practice physical activity.
Particularly children with solitary functioning kidney (SFK) need an
accurate functional evaluation to perform sports activities safely. The
aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of regular physical
activity on the cardiorespiratory function of children with solitary
functioning kidney.  Twenty-nine patients with
congenital SFK, mean age 13.9 ± 5.0 years, and 36 controls (C), mean
age 13.8 ± 3.7 years, underwent a cardiorespiratory assessment with
spirometry and maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing. All subjects
were divided in two groups: sedentary (S) and trained (T) patients, by
means of a standardized questionnaire about their weekly physical
activity.   We found that mean values of maximal oxygen
consumption (VO2max) and exercise time (ET) were higher in T subjects
than in S subjects. Particularly SFK-T presented mean values of VO2max
similar to C-T and significantly higher than C-S (SFK-T: 44.7 ± 6.3 vs
C-S: 37.8 ± 3.7 ml/min/kg; p< 0.0008). We also found significantly
higher mean values of ET (minutes) in minutes in SFK-T than C-S
subjects (SFK-T: 12.9 ± 1.6 vs C-S: 10.8 ± 2.5 min; p<0.02).
Our study showed that regular moderate/high level of physical
activity improve aerobic capacity (VO2max) and exercise tolerance in
congenital SFK patients without increasing the risks for cardiovascular
accidents and accordingly sports activities should be strongly
encouraged in SFK patients to maximize health benefits.