Nutritional assessment of infants with congenital heart disease requiring surgical intervention with extracorporeal circulation

AIM To evaluate the nutritional status of infants and children with congenital heart disease who need cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. Methods Clinical data were collected consecutively from January 2021 to November 2022 from 479 infants and children (aged 0 to 3 years) with congenital heart disease who were proposed for cardiopulmonary bypass surgery at the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of the Air Force Military Medical University, and information on height, weight, type of disease, outcome of treatment and number of days in hospital were collected.

METHODS Clinical data were collected consecutively from January 2021 to November 2022 from 479 infants and children (aged 0 to 3 years) with congenital heart disease who were proposed for cardiopulmonary bypass surgery at the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of the Air Force Military Medical University, and information on height, weight, type of disease, outcome of treatment and number of days in hospital were collected. During the nutritional assessment we chose to compare with WHO criteria and used Z scores: height-for-age Z score (HAZ), weight-for-age Z score (WAZ) and weight-for-height Z score (WHZ), to evaluate the nutritional status of the children and to analyse the impact of malnutrition on hospitalisation days.

RESULTS Growth retardation (HAZ<-2), low body mass (WAZ<-2), and emaciation (WHZ<-2) account for 16.1%, 12.6%, and 9.0%, respectively. Among them, growth retardation, low body mass, and weight loss in infancy accounted for 25.5%, 34.0%, and 14.8%, respectively, while growth retardation, low body mass, and weight loss in early childhood accounted for 7.7%, 1.2%, and 6.2%, respectively. Malnutrition was not related to the gender of the child. In correlation analysis, WAZ, HAZ, WHZ, and albumin showed a negative correlation with hospital stay (P<0.01). CONLUSION There is a high incidence of malnutrition in children with congenital heart disease. Especially in children with congenital heart disease in infancy, malnutrition can lead to prolonged hospitalization days.