Clinical and hospital profile of children with congenital heart disease

Abstract Introduction Children with congenital heart disease present functional and structural abnormalities at birth. The prevalence of this syndrome is 8-10/1000 live births. Objective To characterize the profile of children with congenital heart disease treated at a referral hospital in the state of Parana, Brazil. Methods Data were obtained from the analysis of medical records of 77 children aged 0-10 years. The following parameters were observed for characterization of the sample: age; physical aspects such as weight, height, body mass index; length of stay in intensive care unit (ICU); and use of central venous catheter (CVC) access. Results Ventricular septal defect (VSD), atrial septal defect (ASD), patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), pulmonary hypertension (PH), and tetralogy of Fallot (T4F) were the most frequent cardiopathies observed, with approximately 80% of the infants presenting two or more diseases. Conclusion Children with congenital heart disease are usually underweight, remain hospitalized in ICU for approximately 16 days, use CVC access 70% of this time (11 days), and present up to 4 heart diseases (75.40% of the pateints), most commonly VSD, ASD, PDA, and T4F.