Psychological problems of adults with congenital heart disease

  • Takeaki Shirai, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Yoshiko Mizuno, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Yumi Shina, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Yuuko Wakisaka, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Tomohiko Toyoda, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Shigeru Tateno, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Yasutaka Kawasoe, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan
  • Koichiro Niwa, Department of Adult Congenital Heart Disease and Pediatric Cardiology, Chiba Cardiovascular Center, Japan

    • (Background)
    Recently, psychological distress is thought to be common in patients with cardiac disease. Management of psychological issues in adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) has been emphasized in US and Euro. However, the priority of mental health care for these patients has not been well recognized in Japan.

    (Aim)
    The aim of this study is to investigate current psychological problems in ACHD.

    (Methods)
    Patients’ history regarding psychological issues was investigated from clinical records in our ACHD clinic from January to March in 2008.

    (Results)
    Psychological problems were recognized in 14.1% (33 patients ; 13males, 20females) of 234 total patients. The median age of them is 26 years old (male 24, female 34.5). The problems consists of depression 12, mental retardation 11, hyperventilation 7, counseling for anxiety 2, schizophrenia 1. There was a wide variety of underlying cardiac diseases. 16 were in NYHA class 1, 11 in class 2, 6 in class 3. The proportion of NYHA class 2 and 3, residual cyanosis and un- or palliative operation, were significantly higher in patients with psychological problems than the other patients respectively (p<.01).

    (Conclusions)
    Psychological problems of ACHD were inclined to associate with the severity of cardiac functional status. The number of adults with CHD and psychological problems is also not small in Japan.