J Korean Pediatr Cardiol Soc.  2007 Sep;11(3):169-173.

Nutrition of the Infants and Children with Cardiac Disease

• Yoon KL

Abstract

Infants with congenital heart diseases are prone to malnutrition due to low calory intake and high energy requirement. Energy imbalance affects outcome of cardiac surgery and perioperative mortality. Most infants with congenital heart disease have normal weight for gestational age at birth but develop nutritional disturbance in early infancy. The extent of growth failure does not always correlated with the severity of cardiac lesion, but infants with cyanotic heart lesions reveal more decrease in weight and height compared to healthy infants. Significant improvements of weight and height may occur within months after corrective surgery. Delayed surgical correction for congenital heart lesion lead to malnutrition and operative outcome. Hence, early corrective surgery is recommended for critical congenital heart lesions in symptomatic neonates and infants. Aggressive preoperative nutritional support with proper assessment of growth status, and high calory and high protein formula feeding is required to minimize perioperative risks but also maximize catch-up growth after cardiac surgery.

Keyword

Congenital heart disease; Nutrition; Malnutrition

MeSH Terms

Child*
Gestational Age
Heart
Heart Defects, Congenital
Heart Diseases*
Humans
Infant*
Infant, Newborn
Malnutrition
Mortality
Nutritional Support
Parturition
Thoracic Surgery