Growth and nutritional intake of infants with congenital heart disease

Poor weight and length gain of infants with congenital heart disease is generally considered to be related to inadequate nutritional intake, but no longitudinal data on growth and nutritional intake of such infants are available. We compared weight, length, subscapular and triceps skinfold thickness, energy and protein intake (24-h dietary intake records) as well as serum prealbumin and albumin of infants with cyanotic heart disease (n = 8) or isolated left-to-right shunt (n = 8) with those of healthy infants aged (n = 8) 45-365 days. Weight, length, and combined (subscapular and triceps) skinfold thickness of the two groups with congenital heart disease (CHD) were significantly less from 183 through 365 days of age. However, energy and protein intake was similar to that of the control group from 45 through 365 days of age. Normal serum prealbumin and albumin in the infants with CHD ruled out protein-calorie malnutrition. It is concluded that a low level of food intake was not the main cause of inadequate growth and of small subcutaneous fat stores in these two small, but homogeneous, groups of infants with CHD.