What in particular distinguishes the cooperation between the Department of Sport and Health Sciences and the German Heart Centre Munich?
Prof. Ewert: "The combination of sports sciences and pediatric cardiac medicine is unique in this form in Germany, perhaps even in Europe, and can look back on a long history of success. Over the years, around 2,000 examinations have been carried out on about 1,000 children with congenital heart defects as part of the cooperation. This has resulted in about 70 scientific publications. What sports science does at the Heart Centre, we cannot do as pediatric cardiologists. And the patients we treat at the Heart Centre are otherwise hardly accessible to sports science."
What is the objective of the joint collaboration?
Prof. Oberhoffer-Fritz: "The focal points of the cooperation are to improve the health of children who already have heart disease and to promote their daily lives through exercise concepts, as well as to prevent cardiovascular disease in sick children."
What projects are being carried out as part of the cooperation?
Image: Andreas Heddergott / TUM
Prof. Ewert: "For example, we are investigating how capable children with congenital heart defects are. As an example, I would like to mention a male patient who has only 'half a heart' and hiked to the Zugspitze with his father by foot. He lives with a hypoplastic left heart, the most severe heart defect there is, and still manages to climb the highest mountain in Germany. Impressive!"
Prof. Oberhoffer-Fritz: "We not only collect data, but also try to improve cardiovascular and pulmonary function through breathing training, for example. In addition, we offer exercise training, as in the innovative 'Digital Health Nudging' project on web-based training. Here, the intervention group with patients with congenital heart defects is to be encouraged to be physically active over a period of three months using digital text or image messages on their smartphones. Another example is 'Skipping Hearts', a still ongoing project of the German Heart Foundation, which also supports our two departments. It uses modern methods to motivate elementary school students to jump rope, which stimulates the circulation and is also good for coordination and against osteoporosis. TUM carried out the scientific evaluation of this nationwide project."
What role does interdisciplinarity play in your cooperation?
Prof. Ewert: "We are a brilliant example of interdisciplinarity! For me as a physician at the Heart Centre, it is a real gift that we have the sports scientists, because they can do things that we as physicians cannot. In the duality of patient care and research, we essentially deal with the diseases, but not what sports science deals with. So if you need a 'role model' for interdisciplinarity: here's an excellent one."
Prof. Oberhoffer-Fritz: "At the end of the day, our interdisciplinarity has invigorated the professional societies, because these topics were not represented before. For many years, the topics of exercise and sport and their importance for heart health have had their relevance in the German and European professional society of cardiology. Looking to the future, however, there is still a very great need here, especially for children."
