Trends in Nutritional Status and Dietary Behavior in School-Aged Children with Congenital Heart Defects

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition and poor weight gain has been reported in infants with congenital heart defects (CHDs); however data in older children with CHDs are limited. In order to obtain representative data on the nutritional status, dietary behavior, and potential influencing factors in school-aged children with CHDs, we performed a nationwide online survey. Methods: Patients aged 6 to 17 years registered in the German National Register for CHDs were asked to participate in this study by completing the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) eating study questionnaire in order to assess their self-reported dietary habits. The use of the same questionnaire enabled a comparison with a representative subset of 4569 participants of the KiGGS study. Results: A total of 894 patients (mean age 12.5 ± 3.0 years; 47.2% female) were enrolled. Patients were allocated according to anatomic complexity into simple (23.8%), moderate (37.8%), and complex CHDs (38.4%). The consumption of sugar-containing food (p p p p Conclusions: According to this nationwide survey, school-aged children with complex CHD are at risk of undernutrition, which is not due to dietary habits but to CHD severity and repeated surgery.

Keywords

• congenital heart disease
• pediatric cardiology
• nutrition
• fast food
• obesity
• KiGGS