'Big issues' in neurodevelopment for children and adults with congenital heart disease

Charlotte E Verrall; Gillian M Blue; Alison Loughran-Fowlds; Nadine Kasparian; Jozef Gecz; Karen Walker; Sally L Dunwoodie; Rachael Cordina; Gary Sholler; Nadia Badawi; David Winlaw

doi:10.1136/openhrt-2018-000998

'Big issues' in neurodevelopment for children and adults with congenital heart disease

Open Heart. 2019 Jul 3;6(2):e000998. doi: 10.1136/openhrt-2018-000998. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Charlotte E Verrall^{1

2}, Gillian M Blue^{1

2}, Alison Loughran-Fowlds^{2

3}, Nadine Kasparian^{1

4}, Jozef Gecz⁵, Karen Walker³, Sally L Dunwoodie^{6

7}, Rachael Cordina^{8

9}, Gary Sholler^{1

2}, Nadia Badawi^{2

3}, David Winlaw^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Heart Centre for Children, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
² Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³ Grace Centre for Newborn Care, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ Discipline of Paediatrics, School of Women's and Children's Health, UNSW Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁵ Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide School of Medicine, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
⁶ Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Division, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Faculties of Medicine and Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁸ Cardiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Discipline of Medicine, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Health and Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

It is established that neurodevelopmental disability (NDD) is common in neonates undergoing complex surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD); however, the trajectory of disability over the lifetime of individuals with CHD is unknown. Several 'big issues' remain undetermined and further research is needed in order to optimise patient care and service delivery, to assess the efficacy of intervention strategies and to promote best outcomes in individuals of all ages with CHD. This review article discusses 'gaps' in our knowledge of NDD in CHD and proposes future directions.

Keywords: congenital heart disease; genetics; paediatric cardiology; quality of care and outcomes.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't