What are the early symptoms of heart disease in children? What are the early symptoms of heart disease in children?

Congenital heart disease is a disease with a high mortality rate. Today I will tell you what the early symptoms of pediatric heart disease are. Parents who have the following symptoms do not need to worry, as the child can recover with early treatment.

What is congenital heart disease?

Congenital heart disease is a serious disease that endangers children's health and threatens their lives. It is not uncommon for children to suffer from congenital heart disease. Some children have symptoms at birth and are easy to diagnose early. Some are born well and gradually develop symptoms later. Some children appear healthy but have cardiovascular malformations, which are often easy to ignore.

Although most congenital heart diseases can be corrected surgically, many are not discovered in time. When obvious symptoms appear, it is too late to go to the hospital for treatment, so the opportunity for surgery is lost, resulting in adverse consequences. Therefore, early diagnosis and timely treatment are the key to fully recover the child's health.

What are the symptoms?

1. Heart failure: Neonatal heart failure is considered an emergency, usually due to severe heart defects. Its clinical manifestations are due to congestion of the pulmonary and systemic circulations and reduced cardiac output. The child is pale, breathless, has difficulty breathing and tachycardia, with a heart rate of 160-190 beats per minute and low blood pressure. Gallop rhythm can be heard. The liver is enlarged, but peripheral edema is rare.

2. Cyanosis: It is caused by right-to-left shunting, which causes the mixing of arterial and venous blood. It is most obvious at the tip of the nose, lips, and nail beds.

3. Squatting: Children with cyanotic congenital heart disease, especially those with tetralogy of Fallot, often show squatting signs after activities. This can increase systemic vascular resistance and thus reduce the right-to-left shunt caused by the septal defect, while also increasing venous blood return to the right heart, thereby improving pulmonary blood flow.

4. Clubbing and erythrocytosis: Cyanotic congenital heart disease is almost always accompanied by clubbing and erythrocytosis. The mechanism of clubbing is still unclear, but erythrocytosis is a physiological response of the body to arterial hypoxia.

5. Pulmonary hypertension: When patients with septal defects or patent ductus arteriosus develop severe pulmonary hypertension and cyanosis, it is called Eisenmenger syndrome. Clinical manifestations include cyanosis, polycythemia, clubbing of fingers (toes), and signs of right heart failure, such as distended neck veins, hepatomegaly, and edema of surrounding tissues. At this time, the patient has lost the opportunity for surgery and the only thing waiting is heart and lung transplantation. Most patients die before the age of 40.

6. Developmental disorders: Children with congenital heart disease often develop abnormally, with symptoms such as being thin, malnourished, and delayed in development.

7. Others: chest pain, syncope, sudden death.

Consequences of heart disease

Fetal congenital heart disease is referred to as fetal congenital heart disease.

It is reported that congenital heart disease accounts for 8% to 12% of babies born in my country, which means that 120,000 to 200,000 children with congenital heart disease are born in my country every year. Among them, complex congenital heart disease that cannot be effectively treated with current treatment methods or is prone to early death after birth accounts for about 20%+, which is one of the main causes of death in newborns and children. According to statistics, about 6 out of every 1,000 newborns suffer from congenital heart disease. According to the population birth rate and the incidence of congenital heart disease, it is estimated that 150,000 sick children are born in my country every year. Congenital heart disease is a cruel "killer" that endangers the health and life of children and adults.