Children’s Cognitive Growth Stunted after Heart Surgery

According to a study report published in the Journal of Pediatrics, children with congenital heart defects might experience certain mild difficulties in learning in elementary school after they undergo heart surgery to correct their problems.

Congenital heart defect (CHD) refers to a problem with the structure of the heart. It is usually a defect present in the suffering child right from birth. Such heart defects are the most common type of major birth defects and are also responsible for more deaths in the first year of birth than any other birth defects.

There are many treatments available for CHD including medicines, surgery and other medical procedures and transplants. The type of treatment a child receives is dependent on the type and severity of his/her heart defect and the age, size and general health.

For their study, researchers led by Dr. Marijke Miatton from Ghent University, Belgium examined 43 children with CHD who had undergone heart surgery. The average age of the children was nine years. The subjects were compared to 43 healthy children to get an understanding of their development.

The researchers used an abbreviated intelligence scale (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) combined with a developmental neuropsychological assessment battery to evaluate the children. The scale tested the children using two verbal subtests and two performance subtests while the developmental battery assessed the neuropsychological development of the children in five functional areas.

When score of the two groups of children were compared, it was observed that children with congenital heart disease had statistically significant lower IQ scores – 95.6 in comparison to healthy children – 107.0. Their scores on the Picture Completion and Vocabulary sections of the Wechsler scale were also notably lower.

The researchers found that children with congenital heart disease scored lower in cognitive areas such as Sensorimotor Functioning, Language, Attention and Executive Functioning, and Memory – all on the developmental battery. A lot more impulsive behaviour was also observed in such children in comparison to healthy children.

The findings led Dr. Miatton’s team to the conclusion that children with congenital heart disease face mild motor deficits and subtle difficulties with language tasks between 6 and 12 years after they undergo heart surgery. They also face challenges in areas of attention, memory and executive functioning, i.e. the ability to absorb, interpret and make decisions based on information provided; however these seem to be less affected.

Dr. Miatton and colleagues believe their findings can help in the creation of learning programs tailor made to meet the needs of these children and thereby lead to significant improvement in their outcomes and development.

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