Studies have found that children who have heart defects also have a higher risk of a mental health issue. When children are born with heart defects, it can be worrying for their parents. They are concerned with the health and wellbeing of their child, and they may wonder what the long-term effects will be. Will their child be able to live a long and happy life? With the advancement of modern medicine, children who are born with heart defects do have treatment options available to them but that may not be enough.
According to US News, children who are born with a heart defect may be more at-risk for developing anxiety, depression and/or ADHD. It was also noted that it didn’t seem to matter how severe the heart condition is.
This can be extremely concerning, because congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They stated that heart defects affect around 40,000 babies every single year, and they range in severity and modes of treatment.
When coming to this conclusion, they looked at the medical records of almost 119,000 children who were between the ages of 4 to 17 years old. These children were treated at a Children’s Hospital in Texas between the years 2011 and 2016. Just over 1,000 of those children had congenital heart disease and all of them were more likely than the rest to develop anxiety, depression or ADHD. The amount of children who went on to be prescribed medication for mental health was far higher than those who did not have a heart disease.
What may be concerning is that experts are not quite sure why this is. One theory as to why this may be is due to stress placed on a child from a young age. When a baby is born with a heart defect, they are often facing a lot of appointments, surgeries and treatments from a young age. This trauma may have an impact on their mental health.
Experts still remained strong in saying that children who are born with heart defects are living long and fulfilling lives, which may be comforting to a lot of parent’s out there. Since the medicine and technology is there for survival, medical experts not want to shift their focus on helping a child navigate through this journey emotionally, and they stated that they are planning a more holistic approach to care.