Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine- Department of Pediatrics

Introduction: In infants and children with congenital heart disease (CHD), the delays in weight gain and growth range from relatively mild to failure to thrive. That can result in permanent physical or developmental impairment. Therefore, aggressive feeding strategies must be employed early with these children in order to prevent permanent growth disturbances. Aim of the work: In the current study we aimed to assess growth in cases with congenital heart disease whether cyanotic or acyanotic. Patients and methods: This was a cross-sectional study on 100 patients aged from 12 months to 2 years old diagnosed with CHD admitted to the cardiology unit in Cairo University Specialized Pediatric Hospital in the duration from 2017 to 2019. Results: Transposition of the great arteries (TGA) and Fallot{u2019}s tetralogy were present in 54.2% and 45.8% of our cases with cyanotic CHD while Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) were present in 48.1% and 51.9% of cases with acyanotic CHD respectively. Ten percent had pulmonary hypertension. There was significant decrease in anthropometric measurement among cyanotic cases compared to acyanotic cases. With regard to length, 14.6%of cyanotic patients had lengths under the 3rd percentile compared to 7.7% in acyanotic patients, 31.3% of cyanotic patients had lengths above 97th percentile compared to 67.3% of acyanotic patients (p= 0.001). With regard to weight, 6.3% of cyanotic patients had weight under 3rd percentile compared to 1.9% in acyanotic patients while 33.3% of cyanotic patients had weight above 97th percentile compared to 69.2% of acyanotic patients (p= 0.001). As regards head circumference, 10.4% of cyanotic patients were under 3rd percentile compared to 19.2% of acyanotic patients and 31.3%of cyanotic patients were above 97th percentile compared to 65.4% of acyanotic patients (p=0.001)h CHD. In addition, cyanosis may further deteriorate growth

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