Assessment of Nutrition State in Children with Heart Diseases

Background: It is well- known that children with congenital heart diseases (CHD) are at high risk for nutrition and growth restrictions. Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess growth restriction in infants and young children with heart disease and investigate the relationship between poor growth, feeding difficulties, cardiac classification, and nutrition intervention on outcomes. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 100 children, 50 of them with symptomatic CHD (patient group). They were recruited from the Pediatric Cardiology Outpatient Clinic at Aswan Heart Center from March to August, 2016. A group of 50 apparently healthy children matched in age and sex represented our control group. CHD was diagnosed or excluded by clinical findings and echocardiographic and other routine tests. Results: We found there was some growth restriction in children with CHD compared to normal children in same age group. The growth deficiency was wasting rather than stunting and it was found to be the most common type of malnutrition in our study. No relationship between cardiac complexity, classification (cyanotic vs. acyanotic) and variables including growth parameters. Close nutritional monitoring should be included routinely for all children with CHD regardless of cardiac classification. Age at time of corrective surgery affects the potential for nutritional recovery and catch-up growth. Conclusion: Children with CHD require unique nutritional challenges. It is important to start dealing with nutrition status in congenital heart diseases as a preventable association rather than common consequence. Nutritional screening for diagnosed CHD cases will help in early detection of growth faltering, consequently it will provide access to early nutrition intervention and improve patient outcomes.