The Prevalence of Malnutrition and its Impact on Children with Congenital Heart Disease in Post Cardiac Surgery

Abstract

Background: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) require adequate nutrition for growth and development. Children with CHD are often malnourished and with dyspnea, leading to failure to thrive. Children with CHD have a high basal metabolic rate leading to high caloric requirement. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence ofmalnutrition and its impact on children with congenital heart disease in post cardiac surgery. Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, Bangladesh. Data were collected from January 2019 to January 2020. A total of 40 pediatric patients with CHD admitted for cardiac surgery were included in the study. Sample were collected through purposive sampling as per inclusion criteria. Results: During the study, most of the children belonged to 1 year to 5 years of age group and 60% were male. The nutritional status of the patients before surgery was defined as normal 55%, malnutrition 45%. In malnutrition group heart defect cases was higher than that of normal group. Mean z score for A/W(SEM) was -1.05 in normal group and -3.06 in malnutrition group. Malnourished patients clearly showed a tendency (P=0.005) to have a longer length of intubation, i.e., mean 35.67 hours when compared with those with a normal nutritional status who have mean intubation time of 27.51 hours. The other morbidity factor measured was the length of ICU stay, which also showed a significant result. Conclusion: In Bangladesh, malnutrition is frequent among children with congenital cardiac defects which increases risk of morbidity related with prolonged mechanical ventilation and ICU stays. To minimize potentially harmful effects, the health care system should be able to screen and identify these individuals early on.