Quality of Life of Children Born with a Congenital Heart Defect

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Implantation of Total Artificial Heart in Congenital Heart Disease
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Implantation of Total Artificial Heart in Congenital Heart Disease

Published on: July 18, 2014

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Neil Derridj1, Damien Bonnet2, Johanna Calderon3

  • 1Center of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics, Inserm, INRA, University of Paris, Paris, France; M3C-Pediatric Cardiology, Necker Enfants Malades, AP-HP, University of Paris, Paris, France.

The Journal of Pediatrics
|January 16, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Children with congenital heart defects (CHD) undergoing palliative repair or later complete repair show reduced quality of life (QoL) by age 8. Early complete repair also impacts QoL, highlighting the importance of intervention timing.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Cardiology
  • Health Services Research
  • Quality of Life Studies

Background:

  • Congenital heart defects (CHD) are common birth abnormalities requiring medical and surgical management.
  • Assessing long-term health-related quality of life (QoL) is crucial for understanding the impact of CHD interventions.
  • Identifying specific patient subgroups at risk for QoL impairment is essential for targeted care.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify subgroups of children with CHD at risk of impaired health-related QoL at age 8.
  • To analyze QoL based on different medical and surgical management strategies for CHD.
  • To determine the influence of intervention timing on QoL outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Prospective population-based cohort study of 598 patients with CHD.
  • Subgroup analysis based on management: outpatient clinic, early repair (<3 years), late repair (>3 years), palliative repair, and spontaneous resolution.
  • QoL assessed at age 8 using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (self- and parent-reported); statistical analysis included multivariable regression and Cohen effect size.

Main Results:

  • Palliative repair subgroup reported significantly lower QoL (self- and parent-reported) with large effect sizes.
  • Late complete repair (>3 years) also showed significantly lower parent-reported QoL with a large effect size.
  • Early complete repair (<3 years) demonstrated lower self-reported QoL with a small effect size.

Conclusions:

  • Hospital interventions for CHD are associated with reduced QoL at age 8.
  • The timing of cardiac intervention, particularly palliative or later complete repair, significantly influences long-term QoL.
  • Further research into optimizing intervention timing may improve QoL outcomes for children with CHD.
Abstract

Keywords:
congenital heart defectpopulation-based studyquality of life

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