Children of mothers with congenital heart defects are at increased risk of developmental vulnerability

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Zakir Hossin. Photo: Jeremy Alexander, University of British Columbia

“It is important to remember that most children of mothers with congenital heart defects developed normally, and that children with developmental vulnerability did not necessarily have a clinical diagnosis,” says Zakir Hossin, researcher at the Department of Medicine, Solna, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

The researchers analysed data from over 250,000 children born in British Columbia between 1995 and 2016. At the age of 5–6, the children’s teachers were asked to complete a standardised form on the children’s development and school readiness across five areas: language and cognition, social skills, emotional maturity, communication skills, and physical health and well-being.

Around one in four children whose mothers had a congenital heart defect were assessed as being developmentally vulnerable in two or more of these areas. The corresponding proportion among children of mothers without heart defects was around one in six (just under 17 per cent). The difference remained even after the researchers had taken into account factors such as the mother’s age, social circumstances, and other health conditions.

More women become pregnant

The association was most pronounced among children whose mothers had more severe forms of congenital heart defects. In that group, the risk of developmental vulnerability was almost twice as high compared with children of mothers without congenital heart defects. The researchers also found that premature birth accounted for only a small part of the association.