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Nutritional Status in Children with Un-Operated Congenital Heart Disease: An Egyptian Center Experience

Basheir A Hassan1, Ehab A Albanna1, Saed M Morsy1

  • 1Pediatrics Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University , Zagazig , Egypt.

Frontiers in Pediatrics
|July 1, 2015
PubMed

Insights

Malnutrition is highly prevalent in children with symptomatic congenital heart disease (CHD), affecting 84%. Key predictors include low hemoglobin, low oxygen saturation, heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Cardiology
  • Nutritional Science
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Malnutrition is a significant contributor to illness and death in children with congenital heart disease (CHD).
  • Identifying malnutrition prevalence and predictors in Egyptian children with symptomatic CHD is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine the prevalence of malnutrition in Egyptian children with symptomatic CHD.
  • To identify factors predicting malnutrition in this vulnerable population.

Main Methods:

  • A case-control study involving 100 children with symptomatic CHD and 100 healthy controls.
  • Assessment included clinical evaluation, nutritional status laboratory tests, and anthropometric measurements (Z scores for WAZ, WHZ, HAZ).
  • Malnutrition was defined as Z scores ≤-2 for weight-for-age, weight-for-height, or height-for-age.

Main Results:

  • Malnutrition prevalence was 84% in CHD patients versus 20% in controls, with 71.4% severe malnutrition among cases.
  • All anthropometric and biochemical nutritional markers were significantly lower in CHD patients.
  • Stunting was higher in acyanotic CHD, while wasting predominated in cyanotic CHD.

Conclusions:

  • Malnutrition is extremely common in children with symptomatic CHD.
  • Predictors of malnutrition include low hemoglobin, low arterial oxygen saturation, heart failure, and pulmonary hypertension.
  • Poor dietary history is also a significant predictor.
Abstract

Keywords:
Egyptian childrencongenital heart diseaseheart surgerymalnutritiontherapeutic options

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