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BackgroundAdults with congenital heart disease face psychological challenges although an understanding of depression vs. anxiety symptoms is unclear. We analyzed the prevalence of elevated symptoms of anxiety and depression and explored associations with demographic and medical factors as well as quality of life.MethodsAdults with congenital heart disease enrolled from an outpatient clinic completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and two measures of quality of life: the Linear Analogue Scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Medical data were obtained by chart review.ResultsOf 130 patients (median age = 32 years; 55% female), 55 (42%) had elevated anxiety symptoms and 16 (12%) had elevated depression symptoms on subscales of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Most patients with elevated depression symptoms also had elevated anxiety symptoms (15/16; 94%). Of 56 patients with at least one elevated subscale, 37 (66%) were not receiving mental health treatment. Compared to patients with 0 or 1 elevated subscales, patients with elevations in both (n=15) were less likely to be studying or working (47% vs. 81%; p=0.016) and reported lower scores on the Linear Analogue Scale (60 vs. 81, p<0.001) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (14 vs. 28, p<0.001).ConclusionsAmong adults with congenital heart disease, elevated anxiety symptoms are common and typically accompany elevated depressive symptoms. The combination is associated with unemployment and lower quality of life. Improved strategies to provide psychosocial care and support appropriate engagement in employment are required.

Objective: To assess performance of risk stratification schemes in predicting adverse cardiac outcomes in pregnant women with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to compare these schemes to clinical factors alone.Design: Single-center retrospective study.Setting: Tertiary care academic hospital. Patients: Women ≥18 years with International Classification of Diseases, NinthRevision, Clinical Modification codes indicating CHD who delivered between 1998 and 2014. CARPREG I and ZAHARA risk scores and modified World Health Organization (WHO) criteria were applied to each woman. Outcome Measures:The primary outcome was defined by ≥1 of the following: arrhythmia, heart failure/pulmonary edema, transient ischemic attack, stroke, dissection, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, death during gestation and up to 6 months postpartum. Results:Of 178 women, the most common CHD lesions were congenital aortic stenosis (15.2%), ventricular septal defect (13.5%), atrial septal defect (12.9%), and tetralogy of Fallot (12.9%). Thirty-five women (19.7%) sustained 39 cardiac events.Observed vs expected event rates were 9.9% vs 5% (P = .02) for CARPREG I score 0 and 26.1% vs 7.5% (P < .001) for ZAHARA scores 0.51-1.5. ZAHARA outperformed CARPREG I at predicting adverse cardiovascular outcomes (AUC 0.80 vs 0.72, P = .03) but was not significantly better than modified WHO. Clinical predictors of adverse cardiac event were symptoms (P = .002), systemic ventricular dysfunction (P < .001), and subpulmonary ventricular dysfunction (P = .03) with an AUC 0.83 comparable to ZAHARA (P = .66).Conclusions: CARPREG I and ZAHARA scores underestimate cardiac risk for lower risk pregnancies in these women. Of the three risk schemes, CARPREG I performed least well in predictive capacity. Clinical factors specific to the population studied are comparable to stratification schemes. K E Y W O R D Sadult congenital heart disease, outcomes, pregnancy, risk stratification | 471 KIM et al. | INTRODUC TI ONAs survival of those born with congenital heart disease (CHD) shifts toward adulthood, there are a growing number of females with CHD who reach childbearing age. From 1998 to 2007, the proportion of hospitalizations for delivery increased by 34.9% in women with CHD compared to 21.3% in the female general population. 1 Pregnancy outcomes for women with CHD can be highly variable and pose special challenges for congenital cardiovascular specialists and high-risk obstetricians who are tasked with counseling these women and managing them throughout pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum period. Risk stratification schemes predicting adverse outcomes in pregnant women with CHD have been published 2-6 with variable accuracy. 7-12 The objectives of this study were (1) to assess the performance of CARPREG I, ZAHARA, and the modified World Health Organization (WHO) classification in predicting adverse cardiovascular outcomes in women with CHD at a single tertiary care center with an established adult CHD program in an urban North American setting and (2) to compare the...