Exercise tolerance and behaviour of blood pressure in children and adolescents after renal transplant

Objective. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the exercise tolerance and the behaviour of blood pressure during a maximal exercise testing on treadmill for a group of patients with renal transplant carried out at least 6 months earlier. Experimental design, setting and patients. In a retrospective study, nineteen patients were examined in our laboratory: 13 boys and 6 girls, mean age 15.8 years (range 10.5 - 22). Interventions. All patients were given a clinical examination, an ECG at rest, a maximal exercise testing on treadmill (Bruce protocol), a mono - 2D echo, a lung function test and 24-hour Holter monitoring. The results of the exercise test were compared with those of two control groups of same age and body surface area. Results. The clinical examination of their cardiovascular apparatus gave normal results. The echo revealed anatomical and heart function anomalies related to the original disease. Exercise testing on treadmill showed a reduction in exercise tolerance (p<0.001) and the maximal heart rate showed a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in comparison to control groups. Maximal systolic blood pressure was higher than in patients with same body surface area (p<0.001) and higher than in peers (p=0.133). Conclusions. In view of this hypertensive response, strenuous physical activity should be undertaken with caution and indeed submaximal aerobic activity is more suitable for this population of patients.