[Social problems and rehabilitation of operated or unoperated adults with congenital heart disease].
Advances in surgical management have enabled a large number of children with cardiac malformations, even very severe lesions, to reach adulthood. Besides the purely medical problems which may persist, difficulties in social and professional integration may alter their quality of life and raise doubts about the utility of treatment. It is necessary to assess the symptoms, the causes and therapeutic options available, as if this situation was a true illness. The quality and precocity of surgical techniques make the outcomes more optimistic in adulthood, but those patients now over 30 years of age have difficulties in founding a family and do not enjoy the same chances of training as the rest of the population, even though they may get more acceptable jobs than in previous years. To this end, legislative help may be useful in the most difficult cases.
Martinez
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005195:Family Relations; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012934:Social Isolation; D012944:Social Support