Psychomotor Development in Children with Congental Heart Disease

The purpose of this study is to assess the psychomotor development in children with congenital heart disease, analyzes the degree of developmental delay and investigate the possible factors that result in psychomotor developmental delay in these cases. Form August 1986 to July 1987, 169 cases with congenital heart disease and 92 normal children as control group were studied. The Kansas Development Screening Chart, which was designed by Dr. Holmes, was used to assess the psychomotor development in these 261 children. The degree in psychomotor factors such as sex, nutritional status, cyanosis, age, number of hospitalization and history of congestive heart failure id exert significant influence on psychomotor development was investigated. The mean developmental age in both gross motor and non-gross motor development is about 1.55 months in advance to their chronologic age in control group is 1.07months in group motor development and 0.68 month in nongross motor development. The patients with poor nutritional status showed more significant delay in gross motor development than other patients, but not in non-gross motor development. The patients with cyanotic CHD showed more significant delay than others in both gross motor and non-gross motor development. Sex, number of hospitalization and history of congestive heart failure did not exert significant influence on the degree of psychomotor developmental delay children with CHD.