Quality of Life in Cardiac Patients Attending Assuit University Children Hospital

Quality of life(QOL) is defined as the individual perception related with their state in life in terms of the cultural structure and system of values in which they live. Their objectives, expectations, standards and concerns, whereas health related quality of life is defined as the patient subjective perception of the impact of their disease or its treatment.(1) Cardiac disease is the most common congenital defect in children, with an incidence of eight in every 1000 live births. Multiple factors have improved and prolonged the lives of children and adolescents with congenital heart disease over the last few decades(2) Diagnosis of a life-threatening illness during a child's formative years can have far-reaching effects that ripple through the family and across a lifetime. Infants with complex CHD experience a range of uncommon and painful events, such as separation from their mother at birth, urgent transfer to specialized intensive care, frequent invasive medical procedures, feeding difficultiesand withdrawal from narcotic pain relief. These earlylife experiences can have profound consequences for the developing child, shaping brain development, the body's immune system and responses to stress.(5) From a neurodevelopmental perspective, children with CHD experience greater difficulties compared with their healthy peers. The risk and severity of neurodevelopmental impairment increases with greater CHD complexity, the presence of a genetic disorder or syndrome, and greater psychological stress. During infancy, the most pronounced difficulties occur in motor functioning. By early childhood, studies show that children with complex CHD have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental impairment, in fine and gross motor skills, and language, attention, executive functioning, emotion regulation and behaviour.(7)