AUTHOR=Pfitzer Constanze , Sievers Laura K. , Hütter Alina , Khaliq Hashim-Abdul , Poryo Martin , Berger Felix , Bauer Ulrike M. M. , Helm Paul C. , Schmitt Katharina R. L. 

TITLE=Microcephaly is associated with impaired educational development in children with congenital heart disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2022.917507

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2022.917507

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=Objectives: Evaluation of the school careers in patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and microcephaly.
Methods: An exploratory online survey was conducted in patients from a previous study on the somatic development in children with CHD from 2018 (N=2818). A total of 750 patients took part in the online survey (26.6%). This publication focuses on 91 patients (12.1%) diagnosed with CHD and microcephaly who participated in the new online survey.
Results: Microcephaly was significantly associated with CHD severity (p<0.001). Microcephalic patients suffered from a psychiatric comorbidity twice as often (67.0%) as non-microcephalic patients (29.8%). Especially the percentage of patients with developmental delay, intellectual debility, social disability, learning disorder or language disorder was significantly increased in microcephalic CHD patients (p<0.001). 85.7% of microcephalic patients and 47.6% of non-microcephalic patients received early interventions to foster their development. The school enrollment of both groups was similarly at the age of approximately 6 years of age. However, 89.9% of non-microcephalic but only 51.6% of microcephalic patients were enrolled in a regular elementary school. Regarding the secondary school, only half as many microcephalic patients (14.3%) went to grammar school while the proportion of pupils at special schools among was 8-times higher. Supportive interventions, e.g. for specific learning disabilities, were used by 52.7% of microcephalic patients and 21.6% of the non-microcephalic patients.
Conclusions: Patients with CHD and microcephaly are at high risk for an impaired educational development. Early identification should alert clinicians to provide targeted interventions to optimize the developmental potential.