Mental Health and Neurodevelopment in the Context of Complex Critical Care: A Retrospective Analysis
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is characterized by a structural abnormality in the heart that affects its function. When accounting for the complete spectrum of disease profiles, CHD is diagnosed in 75 of every 1000 live births. Fortunately, advances in medical care and surgical interventions have enabled more than 90% of patients with severe CHD to survive to adulthood. As individuals with CHD make up an increasing proportion of the population, lifelong comorbidities have become the emphasis of contemporary CHD work. Psychiatric disorders are the most common comorbidity in individuals with CHD. A biological as well as environmental basis for psychiatric disorders and psychosocial functioning difficulties in CHD has been suggested. In patients with severe CHD, biological insults to the developing brain are compounded by the unique challenges to normative neurodevelopment posed by inpatient hospitalization during early life. To evaluate the relationship between inpatient course and developmental diagnoses in the CHD population, a scoping retrospective analysis of patients seen by pediatric cardiac surgery between the ages of zero and four was conducted. This analysis aims to inform an inpatient mental health intervention and further optimization of the inpatient environment for early development.