Objective:
Quality of life has become a part of outcome assessment in the health system. We examined quality of life in groups of children with congenital heart disease after surgery according to the Risk Adjusted Classification for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1).
Methods:
We identified 878 children operated from 1996 to 2002 at Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby.
The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ-87) was send to all patients aged 10 to 20 years (N=441). Low RACHS-1 categories (one and two) were compared with high categories (three and four) using the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. CHQ-87 scores are presented as mean ± SD.
Results:
Fifty-one percent answered the questionnaire (N=215). The distribution of RACHS-1 categories was: One and two: 66%, three and four: 31% (3% could not be assigned to a category). Children in high RACHS-1 categories reported significant lower scores in several CHQ-87 subscales: General Health Perceptions (68.2±21.0 versus 79.4±16.4, p<0.001), Physical Functioning (91.5±10.8 versus 96.1±8.8, p<0.001), Self Esteem (81.7±14.2 versus 87.9±11.2, p<0.05), Mental Health (78.5±15.1 versus 84.1±11.6, p<0.05), Behavior (78.1±15.1 versus 83.6±11.2, p<0.05) Role/Social Limitations –Emotional (87.2±23.1 versus 96.3±11.1, p<0.05) and Role/Social Limitations –Behavioral (87.7±23.1 versus 96.6±12.4, p<0.001). There were no differences in General Health, Bodily Pain, Global Behavior and Family Activities between groups.
Conclusion:
Children in high RACHS-1 categories have lower scores in several components of health related quality of life using the CHQ-87, when compared with children in low RACHS-1 categories. Further studies are needed to explore this difference and compare these results with children from the general population.