Functional impairment may be persistent in pediatric survivors of critical care. Unfortunately, studies varied largely in measurement timing and tools used. The lack of differentiation between impairment in different functional domains limited the generalizability of data. Further studies using a combination of standardized measures at various time points of the disease process can help establish more comprehensive rates of physical impairment.

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Energy imbalance in infants and children with congenital heart disease (CHD) is common and influenced by age, underlying cardiac diagnoses, and presence or absence of congestive heart failure. During the surgical hospitalization period, these children are prone to nutritional deterioration due to stress of surgery, anesthetic/perfusion techniques, and postoperative care. Poor nutrition is associated with increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. This review aims to examine various aspects of nutrition in critically ill children with CHD, including (1) energy expenditure, (2) perioperative factors that contribute to energy metabolism, (3) bedside practices that are potentially able to optimize nutrient delivery, and (4) medium- to long-term impact of energy balance on clinical outcomes. We propose a nutrition algorithm to optimize nutrition of these children in the perioperative period where improvements in nutrition status will likely impact surgical outcomes.