Exercise Intervention to Rescue the Adverse Effect of Preterm Birth on Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Health.

The investigators postulate that a 14-week exercise intervention will improve exercise capacity in preterm adults, as seen in other at-risk populations, in correlation with measures of vascular health, heart and muscle perfusion and oxygenation, and pulmonary function detected by cutting edge and highly sensitive imaging and circulating biomarkers. These markers are more sensitive to pre-disease changes than traditional health measures, and are largely unexplored in preterm populations.

The investigators will:

• Determine whether a 14-week supervised exercise training improves exercise capacity in young adults (18-29 years old) born very preterm at <29 weeks gestational age.
• Examine whether improvement in exercise capacity is associated with changes in (a) markers of vascular health including circulating endothelial progenitor cells and microparticles, (b) cardiac perfusion by cutting-edge oxygenation-sensitive cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), (c) lung regional ventilation measured by newly developed hydrogen proton (1H) MRI, (d) muscle oxygenation during exercise.
• Compare the response of the above measures to exercise intervention between young adults born very preterm and term controls.

Inclusion criteria

Both groups :

• Aged between 18-29 years old
• Less than 120 minutes of exercise per week
• Willingness to be part of the 14 weeks exercise intervention

Preterm group:

• Born under 29 weeks of gestation

Term group :

• Born between 37-41 weeks
• Appropriate weight fo gestational weight

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnancy
• conditions excludins individual from exercise