Behavioural and emotional outcomes in school-aged children after surgery or transcatheter closure treatment for ventricular septal defect

Abstract

School-aged children who underwent repair of ventricular septal defect regardless of the type of treatment (surgery or transcatheter closure) exhibit internalising behavioural problems. Risk factors for developing problems are young age, scarring, post-operative atrioventricular block, and maternal anxiety. In particular, maternal anxiety is the most important risk factor.

Child neurodevelopment and mental health after surgical ventricular septal defect repair: risk and protective factors

“…The correspondence in anxiety measures between mother and child was not found in the comparison group. Similarly, Guan et al . found that maternal anxiety was the most important risk factor for internalizing symptoms in a 6‐ to 13‐year‐old cohort with VSD.…”

“…The correspondence in anxiety measures between mother and child was not found in the comparison group. Similarly, Guan et al 7 found that maternal anxiety was the most important risk factor for internalizing symptoms in a 6-to 13-year-old cohort with VSD. In addition, Perricone et al 27 emphasized that the post-surgery development of children with CHD primarily depends on parental variables rather than on medical factors.…”

“…Recent studies have shown that mothers of children with CHD had higher risks for reduced maternal engagement in the mother–child interaction and anxiety symptoms . In other studies, these factors were specifically associated with developmental problems (in the case of reduced maternal engagement) and emotional or behavioural problems (in cases of maternal anxiety) in children with CHD …”

“…Only a subset of these long‐term studies included children who specifically followed a surgical correction for VSD; and even fewer studies used a homogenous VSD sample, which exclusively included children after VSD repair (i.e. surgery 1999–2005, age 6–13y; surgery 1998–2003, age 1y [Kaltman et al …”

“…9 In other studies, these factors were specifically associated with developmental problems (in the case of reduced maternal engagement) and emotional or behavioural problems (in cases of maternal anxiety) in children with CHD. 7,10 Only a subset of these long-term studies included children who specifically followed a surgical correction for VSD; [11][12][13][14][15][16] and even fewer studies used a homogenous VSD sample, which exclusively included children after VSD repair (i.e. surgery 1999-2005, age 6-13y; 7 surgery 1998-2003, age 1y [Kaltman et al 17 ]).…”